Factors Associated with the Primary Care Physician Offering Telehealth Appointments Among Medicare Beneficiaries: Results from a National Survey.

Many studies reported increased use of telehealth among primary care physicians (PCPs), however, there is no study on telehealth offering to Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed 1) telehealth offering from PCPs among Medicare beneficiaries, 2) PCP offered telehealth before and during COVID-19 pandemic, and 3) factors associated with telehealth offering.Data were from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) 2020 Fall COVID-19 Supplement. We conducted multivariable logistic regression model to examine factors associated with PCP offerings of telehealth appointment.Overall, 80% Medicare beneficiaries were offered telehealth appointments by their PCP offices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with Internet access (OR=1.78, 95%CI: 1.48, 2.15), and who owned devices (OR=1.33, 95%CI: 1.10, 1.61) were more likely to be offered telehealth appointments from their PCPs controlling for all other variables in the model. Respondents between 65-74 years old (OR=1.28, 95%CI: 1.07, 1.54), with an income of ≥$25,000 (OR=1.31, 95%CI: 1.13, 1.52), living in a metropolitan area (OR=1.70, 95%CI: 1.48, 1.96), and living in the West (OR=1.27, 95%CI: 1.03, 1.56) were more likely to be offered telehealth appointments from PCPs when compared to their counterparts. Non-Hispanic black (OR=0.64, 95%CI: 0.53, 0.78) were less likely to be offered telehealth appointments by their PCPs when compared to Non-Hispanic white.DiscussionKey finding suggested health disparities existed in PCP offering of telehealth in terms of Internet access, devices owning, race, age, income, residential locations, and census regions. Policy makers should consider these health disparities when expanding and encouraging utilization of telehealth among Medicare beneficiaries.