Rates of Primary Care and Integrated Mental Health Telemedicine Visits Between Rural and Urban Veterans Affairs Beneficiaries Before and After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Veteran comfort and satisfaction with comprehensive geriatric assessment via video telehealth to home

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this project was to measure satisfaction with virtual comprehensive geriatric assessments (CGA) among older Veterans (OVs).

METHODS

The CGA involved five different healthcare providers and four one-hour VA Video Connect (VVC) calls. Using specific enrollment criteria, OVs were recruited in four cohorts separated by time. After completing the CGA, participants were asked to complete a 10-statement telephone questionnaire. Before analyses, responses to each statement were dichotomized as Agree (Agree/Strongly agree) or Do not Agree (Neutral/Disagree/Strongly Disagree). Descriptive statistics and Binomial generalized linear models (GLMs) were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

All 269 enrolled OVs completed all components of the CGA. This included 79, 57, 61, and 72 Veterans in cohorts 1 to 4, respectively. Their average age was 76.0 ± 5.9 years, and they were predominately white (82%), male (94%), and residents of rural settings (64%). Of the 236 (88%) OVs who completed the telephone survey, 57% indicated they were comfortable using VVC and 57% expressed willingness to use VVC again; 44% felt that VVC was easier than going to in-person visits. The OVs in Cohort 1 were more likely to agree with these statements than those in the remaining cohorts, especially Cohorts 2 and 4. Differences in demographics partially explained some of these findings. The majority (89% or higher) of survey participants agreed with the remaining seven survey statements indicating they were satisfied with the CGA program.

CONCLUSION

OVs were very satisfied with their participation in a program of CGA, although not necessarily the mode of delivery. The percentage of participants who indicated discomfort using VVC for the CGA visits appeared to increase with time. Further work is needed to determine which OVs would be the best candidates to use VVC to complete all or part of a CGA.

Video versus audio telehealth in safety net clinic patients: Changes by rurality and time

BACKGROUND

Understanding the mix of video versus audio telehealth modality is critical to informing care for low-income safety net clinic patients. Our study examined whether telehealth modality and continued use of telehealth varied by rurality and whether that changed over time.

METHODS

Encounters from adults in the OCHIN national network of primary care safety net clinics were identified by encounter type (in-person vs telehealth) and telehealth modality (video vs audio) from 4/1/2021 to 3/31/2023. Our main outcome was an interaction between patient rurality (defined using Rural Urban Commuting Area codes) and time. Linear probability models with clinic fixed effects were used to estimate predicted probabilities.

RESULTS

The predicted probability of a telehealth visit decreased from 37.9% to 24.7% among urban patients (P <.001) and remained stable (29.5%-29.8%; P = .82) among patients in small rural areas. By March 2023, telehealth use among patients in small rural areas was 5.1 percentage points higher than among urban patients (P = .02). The predicted probability of an audio-only visit ranged from 63.5% to 70.5% for patients across all levels of rurality, but no significant differences by rurality or time were found.

CONCLUSIONS

Safety net clinic patients were more likely to use audio-only than video telehealth visits. Telehealth in urban and large rural areas decreased since the first year of the pandemic. By the end of the study, patients in small rural communities used significantly more telehealth than urban patients. Elimination of reimbursement for audio telehealth visits may exacerbate existing health care inequities.

Understanding How Contingency Staffing Programs Can Support Mental Health Services in the Veterans Health Administration

Introduction: Beginning in 2019, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prioritized improving access to care nationally to deliver virtual care and implemented 18 regionally based Clinical Resource Hubs (CRHs) to meet this priority. This observational study describes the quantity and types of care delivered by CRH Mental Health teams, and the professions of those hired to deliver it. Methods: A retrospective cohort study, based on national VA CRH mental health care utilization data and CRH staffing data for CRH's first 3 years, was conducted. Results: CRH Mental Health teams primarily used Telemental Health (TMH) to provide care (98.1% of all CRH MH encounters). The most common disorders treated included depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety disorders. The amount of care delivered overtime steadily increased as did the racial and ethnic diversity of Veterans served. Psychologists accounted for the largest share of CRH staffing, followed by psychiatrists. Conclusions: CRH TMH delivered from a regional hub appears to be a feasible and acceptable visit modality, based on the continuously increasing CRH TMH visit rates. Our results showed that CRH TMH was predominantly used to address common mental health diagnoses, rather than serious mental illnesses. Traditionally marginalized patient populations increased over the 3-year window, suggesting that CRH TMH resources were accessible to many of these patients. Future research should assess barriers and facilitators for accessing CRH TMH, especially for difficult-to-service patient populations, and should consider whether similar results to ours occur when regional TMH is delivered to non-VA patient populations.

Identifying virtual care modality in electronic health record data

Background

Virtual care increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific modality of virtual care (video, audio, eVisits, eConsults, and remote patient monitoring) has important implications for the accessibility and quality of care, but rates of use are relatively unknown. Methods for identifying virtual care modalities, especially in electronic health records (EHR) are inconsistent. This study (a) developed a method to identify virtual care modalities using EHR data and (b) described the distribution of these modalities over a 3-year study period.

Methods

EHR data from 316 primary care safety net clinics throughout the study period (4/1/2020-3/31/2023) were included. Visit type (in-person vs virtual) by adults >18 years old were classified. Expert consultation informed the development of two algorithms to classify virtual care visit modalities; these algorithms prioritized different EHR data elements. We conducted descriptive analyses comparing algorithms and the frequency of virtual care modalities.

Results

Agreement between the algorithms was 96.5% for all visits and 89.3% for virtual care visits. The majority of disagreement between the algorithms was among encounters scheduled as audio-only but billed as a video visit. Restricting to visits where the algorithms agreed on visit modality, there were 2-fold more audio-only than video visits.

Conclusion

Visit modality classification varies depending upon which data in the EHR are prioritized. Regardless of which algorithm is utilized, safety net clinics rely on audio-only and video visits to provide care in virtual visits. Elimination of reimbursement for audio visits may exacerbate existing inequities in care for low-income patients.

Development of a conceptual framework to understand the stakeholder's perspectives on needs and readiness of rural tele-practice for childhood communication disorders

Background

Tele-practice promotes universal and equitable access to quality health services and emerged as an alternative to overcome physical barriers to intervention access in the 90s. There has been a steady increase in adoption since then, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a surge in online modes of healthcare service delivery. Yet, tele-practice adoption and utilization in rural and remote areas are not spontaneous. Therefore, as a first step, prior to the implementation of a comprehensive tele-practice model, a baseline situational analysis was undertaken to assess the needs and readiness of parents of children with disabilities and different cadres of health care providers towards accepting tele-practice services in their settings. This paper describes the process of development of the conceptual framework that guided the baseline needs and readiness assessment (situational analysis).

Methods

The Bowen's feasibility framework served as the primary framework to evaluate the feasibility outcomes of the implementation. Therefore, this framework also guided the baseline situational analysis. For specificity of the framework to tele-practice, several telemedicine planning frameworks relevant for low- and middle-income countries were reviewed to identify and map suitable constructs and attributes to the Bowen's constructs. A description of the framework selection process and a review of each of the selected telemedicine frameworks are provided.

Results

The constructs and attributes from this conceptual framework were used to develop the guides for focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured interviews (SSIs). The guides were prepared separately for each stakeholder group.

Conclusions

The developed framework facilitated the assessment of needs and readiness suited to the context and among various stakeholders involved in the proposed implementation of the comprehensive model of tele-practice for childhood communication disorders in rural communities.

Sociodemographic Differences in the Impacts of Video-Enabled Tablets on Psychotherapy Usage Among Veterans

OBJECTIVE

To examine potential health disparities due to a broad reliance on telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors studied the impact of video-enabled tablets provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on psychotherapy usage among rural versus urban, Black versus White, and female versus male veterans.

METHODS

Psychotherapy usage trends before and after onset of the COVID-19 pandemic were examined among veterans with at least one mental health visit in 2019 (63,764 tablet recipients and 1,414,636 nonrecipients). Adjusted difference-in-differences and event study analyses were conducted to compare psychotherapy usage among tablet recipients and nonrecipients (March 15, 2020-December 31, 2021) 10 months before and after tablet issuance. Analyses were stratified by rurality, sex, and race.

RESULTS

Adjusted analyses demonstrated that tablet receipt was associated with increases in psychotherapy visit frequency in every patient group studied (rural, 27.4%; urban, 24.6%; women, 30.5%; men, 24.4%; Black, 20.8%; White, 28.1%), compared with visits before tablet receipt. Compared with men, women had statistically significant tablet-associated psychotherapy visit increases (video visits, 1.2 per year; all modalities, 1.0 per year).

CONCLUSIONS

VA-issued tablets led to increased psychotherapy usage for all groups examined, with similar increases found for rural versus urban and Black versus White veterans and higher increases for women versus men. Eliminating barriers to Internet access or device ownership may improve mental health care access among underserved or historically disadvantaged populations. VA's tablet program offers insights to inform policy makers' and health systems' efforts to bridge the digital divide.

The association between county-level mental health provider shortage areas and suicide rates in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE

Prior literature has shown that mental health provider Health Professional Shortage Areas (MHPSAs) experienced a greater increase in suicide rates compared to non-shortage areas from 2010 to 2018. Although suicide rates have been on the rise, rates have slightly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to characterize the differences in suicide rate trends during the pandemic by MHPSA status.

METHOD

We used generalized estimating equation regression to test the associations between MHPSA status and suicide rates from 2018 to 2021. Suicide deaths were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research.

RESULTS

MHPSA status was associated with higher suicide rates (adjusted IRR:1.088 [95% CI, 1.024-1.156]). Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between MHPSA status and year (adjusted IRR:1.056 [95% CI, 1.022-1.091]), such that suicide rates did not significantly change among MHPSAs but slightly decreased among non-MHPSAs from 2018 to 2021.

CONCLUSIONS

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a slight decrease in suicide rates among non-MHPSAs, while those with shortages experienced no significant changes in suicide rates. It will be important to closely monitor MHPSAs as continued at-risk regions for suicide as trendlines return to their pre-pandemic patterns.

Caregivers' Role in In-Home Video Telehealth: National Survey of Occupational Therapy Practitioners

BACKGROUND

Older adults face barriers to specialty care, such as occupational therapy (OT), and these challenges are worse for rural older adults. While in-home video telehealth may increase access to OT, older adults' health- and technology-related challenges may necessitate caregiver assistance.

OBJECTIVE

This study examines caregiver assistance with in-home OT video telehealth visits from the perspectives of OT practitioners at Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

METHODS

A web-based national survey of VHA OT practitioners about caregivers' role in video telehealth was conducted between January and February 2022. Survey items were developed with input from subject matter experts in geriatrics and OT and identified patient factors that necessitate caregiver participation; the extent to which caregivers assist with different types of tasks (technological and clinical tasks); and the perceived facilitators of, benefits of, and barriers to caregiver involvement.

RESULTS

Of approximately 1787 eligible VHA OT practitioners, 286 (16% response rate) participated. Not all survey items required completion, resulting in different denominators. Most respondents were female (183/226, 81%), White (163/225, 72.4%), and occupational therapists (275/286, 96.2%). Respondents were from 87 VHA medical centers, the catchment areas of which served a patient population that was 34% rural, on average (SD 0.22). Most participants (162/232, 69.8%) had >10 years of OT experience serving a patient cohort mostly aged ≥65 years (189/232, 81.5%) in primarily outpatient rehabilitation (132/232, 56.9%). The top patient factors necessitating caregiver involvement were lack of technical skills, cognitive impairment, and advanced patient age, with health-related impairments (eg, hearing or vision loss) less frequent. Technological tasks that caregivers most frequently assisted with were holding, angling, moving, repositioning, or operating the camera (136/250, 54.4%) and enabling and operating the microphone and setting the volume (126/248, 50.8%). Clinical tasks that caregivers most frequently assisted with were providing patient history (143/239, 59.8%) and assisting with patient communication (124/240, 51.7%). The top facilitator of caregiver participation was clinician-delivered caregiver education about what to expect from video telehealth (152/275, 55.3%), whereas the top barrier was poor connectivity (80/235, 34%). Increased access to video telehealth (212/235, 90.2%) was the top-rated benefit of caregiver participation. Most respondents (164/232, 70.7%) indicated that caregivers were at least sometimes unavailable or unable to assist with video telehealth, in which case the appointment often shifted to phone.

CONCLUSIONS

Caregivers routinely assist VHA patients with in-home OT video visits, which is invaluable to patients who are older and have complex medical needs. Barriers to caregiver involvement include caregivers' challenges with video telehealth or inability to assist, or lack of available caregivers. By elucidating the caregiver support role in video visits, this study provides clinicians with strategies to effectively partner with caregivers to enhance older patients' access to video visits.

Disparities in Video-Based Primary Care Use Among Veterans with Cardiovascular Disease

BACKGROUND

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is prevalent among Veterans, and video care enhances access to CVD care. However, it is unknown which patients with CVD conditions receive video care in primary care clinics, where a large proportion of CVD services is delivered.

OBJECTIVE

Characterize use of VA video primary care for Veterans with two common CVDs, heart failure and hypertension.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

PATIENTS

Veterans seen in VA primary care with diagnoses of heart failure and/or hypertension in the year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and for the first two pandemic-years.

MAIN MEASURES

The primary outcome was use of any video-based primary care visits. Using multilevel regressions, we examined the association between video care use and patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, controlling for time and adjusting for patient- and site-level clustering.

KEY RESULTS

Of 3.8M Veterans with 51.9M primary care visits, 456,901 Veterans had heart failure and hypertension, 50,753 had heart failure only, and 3,300,166 had hypertension only. Veterans with heart failure and hypertension had an average age of 71.6 years. 2.9% were female, and 34.8% lived in rural settings. Patients who were male, aged 75 or older, or rural-dwelling had lower odds of using video care than female patients, 18-44-year-olds, and urban-dwellers, respectively (male patients' adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.72-0.74; 75 years or older, AOR 0.38, 95% CI 0.37-0.38; rural-dwellers, AOR 0.71, 95% CI 0.70-0.71). Veterans with heart failure had higher odds of video care use than those with hypertension only (AOR 1.05, 95% CI 1.04-1.06).

CONCLUSIONS

Given lower odds of video primary care use among some patient groups, continued expansion of video care could make CVD services increasingly inequitable. These insights can inform equitable triage of patients, for example by identifying patients who may benefit from additional support to use virtual care.

Use of Real Time Clinical Video Telehealth to Home by primary care providers within the Veterans Health Administration during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: variability across VA stations and with time

Objective

Determine the extent to which use of Clinical Video Telehealth to Home (VT2H) for primary care licensed independent practitioner visits (PCLIPVs) varied over time and across the Veterans Health Administration (VA) during the first 18 months of the COVID pandemic, and if there was an association between VT2H usage and VA station characteristics.

Materials and Methods

All outpatient encounters (n = 12 143 456) for Veterans (n = 4 373 638) that had VA PCLIPVs during the period of observation were categorized as conducted by VT2H, in-person, or telephone. The change over time in the percentage of total PCLIPVs conducted by VT2H was plotted and associations between VA station characteristics and VT2H usage were analyzed using simple statistics and negative binomial regression.

Results

Between March 2020 and mid-August 2020, VT2H visits increased from <2% to 13% of all VA PCLIPVs. However, VT2H usage varied substantively by VA station and declined system-wide to <9% of PCLIPVs by July 2021. VA stations that serve a greater proportion of rural Veterans were found less likely to use VT2H.

Discussion

The VA was successful in increasing the use of VT2H for PCLIPVs during the first phase of the COVID pandemic. However, VT2H usage varied by VA station and over time. Beyond rurality, it is unknown what station characteristics may be responsible for the variance in VT2H use.

Conclusion

Future investigation is warranted to identify the unique practices employed by VA stations that were most successful in using VT2H for PCLIPVs and whether they can be effectively disseminated to other stations.