Bridging the Digital Divide in Teledermatology Usage: A Retrospective Review of Patient Visits.

Abstract

We sought to analyze the demographics of patients utilizing synchronous video visits (SVs), asynchronous visits (AVs), and in-office visits (IVs) following the implementation of SVs. We conducted a retrospective review of medical records and gathered patient demographics from 17,130 initial dermatology visits between July and December 2020. Diagnosis, age, sex, race, ethnicity, and insurance type were compared across visit types. We concluded that the implementation of SVs may increase access to dermatologic care among medically marginalized patients. Patient engagement and education as well as advocacy for continued Medicaid payment parity regulations for SVs are needed to increase dermatologic care access.