Describe trends in telehealth utilization since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

 

Trends in telehealth utilization since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The cross-sectional study of telehealth's use during the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic provides information on the use patterns of the health care delivery sense modality for providers and planners. However, the age and sex of patients who access the telehealth services in the study were similar to those seeking telehealth services in other studies.

More visits were made during the first three months of the year 2020 than during the same period in 2019. According to the researchers, there is an overall increase in telehealth services in the last weeks of March. Again, some adults have been reported having delayed or have avoided seeking care during the pandemic due to worries about COVID-19. It also included those who have avoided seeking urgent or emergency care. Therefore, the sharp rise in telehealth encounters may be associated with the declines in in-person visits.

Another factor that have affected the utilization of services include the states' orders to stay-at-home. The increased availability of telehealth services might have reduced disease exposure for staff members and also patients. Additionally, most patients seeking telehealth in the early pandemic period were managed at home, which led to the reduction of large volumes of patients seeking care at health facilities.

However, up to date, because the COVID-19 pandemic is still preventing, there is an increase in the use of telehealth services because fewer patients make fewer visits to healthcare clinics. Although there are a few who make the clinical visits because of the vaccine's hopes; thus, the pandemic may end.