Telehealth Services: Improving Equity in Pulmonary Health Outcomes

Claire Leilani DeBolt; Karen S Rheuban; Drew Harris

doi:10.1016/j.ccm.2023.03.017

Telehealth Services: Improving Equity in Pulmonary Health Outcomes

Clin Chest Med. 2023 Sep;44(3):651-660. doi: 10.1016/j.ccm.2023.03.017. Epub 2023 May 9.

Authors

Claire Leilani DeBolt¹, Karen S Rheuban², Drew Harris³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. Electronic address: cld7v@virginia.edu.
² Department of Pediatrics, University of Virginia, Center for Telehealth, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.

PMID: 37517842
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccm.2023.03.017

Abstract

Expansion of telehealth services has the potential to attenuate health inequities in pulmonary medicine, by improving access to care and health outcomes in patients with lung disease. These telehealth services include remote patient monitoring, synchronous telemedicine, and remote pulmonary rehabilitation. Currently, patients who are White, well-educated, wealthy, and from urban areas are the most likely to benefit from telehealth services. Without clear policy decisions and planning to overcome the "Digital Divide," telehealth services will only exacerbate existing disparities within the pulmonary disease. We describe the benefits and limitations of these new technologies and their impact on improving equity in pulmonary medicine.

Keywords: Inequities; Pulmonary; Telehealth.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Health Services Accessibility
Humans
Outcome Assessment, Health Care
Pulmonary Medicine*
Telemedicine*