Access to telehealth services for colorectal cancer patients in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors

Victoria A. Marks, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St New Haven, CT, 06520, USA. Electronic address: victoria.marks@yale.edu.Follow
Walter R. Hsiang, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St New Haven, CT, 06520, USA; University of California San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA. Electronic address: walter.hsiang@ucsf.edu.Follow
Waez Umer, The College of New Jersey, 2000 Pennington Rd, Ewing Township, NJ, 08618, USA. Electronic address: waezumer@gmail.com.
Afash Haleem, The College of New Jersey, 2000 Pennington Rd, Ewing Township, NJ, 08618, USA. Electronic address: afashhaleem@gmail.com.Follow
Dana Kim, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St New Haven, CT, 06520, USA. Electronic address: dana.kim@yale.edu.
John W. Kunstman, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St New Haven, CT, 06520, USA; VA Connecticut Medical Center, 950 Campbell St, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA. Electronic address: john.kunstman@yale.edu.Follow
Michael S. Leapman, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St New Haven, CT, 06520, USA; Yale Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy, and Effectiveness Research Center, 367 Cedar St, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA. Electronic address: michael.leapman@yale.edu.Follow
Kevin M. Schuster, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St New Haven, CT, 06520, USA. Electronic address: kevin.schuster@yale.edu.Follow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

American journal of surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic yielded rapid telehealth deployment to improve healthcare access, including for surgical patients. METHODS: We conducted a secret shopper study to assess telehealth availability for new patient and follow-up colorectal cancer care visits in a random national sample of Commission on Cancer accredited hospitals and investigated predictive facility-level factors. RESULTS: Of 397 hospitals, 302 (76%) offered telehealth for colorectal cancer patients (75% for follow-up, 42% for new patients). For new patients, NCI-designated Cancer Programs offered telehealth more frequently than Integrated Network (OR: 0.20, p = 0.01), Academic Comprehensive (OR: 0.18, p = 0.001), Comprehensive Community (OR: 0.10, p < 0.001), and Community (OR: 0.11, p < 0.001) Cancer Programs. For follow-up, above average timeliness of care hospitals offered telehealth more frequently than average hospitals (OR: 2.87, p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: We identified access disparities and predictive factors for telehealth availability for colorectal cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors should be considered when constructing telehealth policies.

First Page

1267

Last Page

1273

DOI

10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.06.005

Publication Date

11-1-2022

Recommended Citation

Marks, Victoria A.; Hsiang, Walter R.; Umer, Waez; Haleem, Afash; Kim, Dana; Kunstman, John W.; Leapman, Michael S.; and Schuster, Kevin M., "Access to telehealth services for colorectal cancer patients in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic" (2022). Surgery. 29.
https://scholar.bridgeporthospital.org/surgery/29

Identifier

35701240 (pubmed); PMC9176198 (pmc); 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.06.005 (doi); S0002-9610(22)00399-3 (pii)