Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct;13(4):100973.
doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2020.100973. Epub 2020 Jul 9.

Telemedicine barriers and challenges for persons with disabilities: COVID-19 and beyond

Thiru M Annaswamy  1 , Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez  2 , Lex Frieden  3
Affiliations

Telemedicine barriers and challenges for persons with disabilities: COVID-19 and beyond

Thiru M Annaswamy et al. Disabil Health J. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a rapid adoption of telemedicine over traditional in-person visits due to social restrictions. While telemedicine improves access and reduces barriers to healthcare access for many, several barriers and challenges remain for persons with disabilities, and novel challenges have been exposed, many of which may persist long-term. The challenges and barriers that need to be systematically addressed include: Infrastructure and access barriers, operational challenges, regulatory barriers, communication barriers and legislative barriers. Persons with disabilities are a vulnerable population and little attention has been placed on their healthcare access during the pandemic. Access and communication during a healthcare encounter are important mediators of outcomes for persons with disabilities. Significant, long-term changes in technological, regulatory, and legislative infrastructure and custom solutions to unique patient and health system needs are required to address these barriers going forward in order to improve healthcare access and outcomes for persons with disabilities.

Keywords: Disability studies; Health legislation; Health services accessibility; Telemedicine; Telerehabilitation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Smith C.A. Healthcare disparities in people with disabilities: is there a cure? South Med J. 2019;112(2):98–100. doi: 10.14423/SMJ.0000000000000928. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Disability impacts all of us. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-im... Accessed May 18, 2020.
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . 2016. Prevalence of Disability and Disability Types by Urban-Rural County Classification – United States.https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/disability-preva... Accessed May 18, 2020.
    1. Gilbert A.W., Billany J.C.T., Adam R. Rapid implementation of virtual clinics due to COVID-19: report and early evaluation of a quality improvement initiative. BMJ Open Qual. 2020;9(2) doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2020-000985. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agha Z., Schapira R.M., Maker A.H. Do we want to talk about cost effectiveness as a benefit? Cost effectiveness of telemedicine for the delivery of outpatient pulmonary care to a rural population. Telemed J e Health. 2002;8(3):281–291. - PubMed