HSD73 Characteristics of Type 2 Diabetes Patients That Used Virtual Care Since COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a Large Commercial Healthcare Claims Database in the US

Abstract

The use of virtual care has accelerated since the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to analyze the differences in patient characteristics between new and existing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients that utilized virtual care. Adult patients (age³18 years) with T2DM who had a virtual care (phone or video) visit between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022 from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse® were identified. The date of the first virtual visit was defined as the index date. Patients were required to be continuously insured at least 1 year prior to their index date (baseline) and at least 90 days of follow-up coverage. T2DM patients were categorized as newly diagnosed and as existing T2DM patients based on whether a diabetes diagnosis was observed in the baseline or not. A total of 1,864,203 unique T2DM patients were eligible, with18.5% identified as newly diagnosed and 81.5% as existing T2DM patients. On average, newly diagnosed T2DM patients were younger than existing T2DM patients. Majority (54.5%) of newly diagnosed T2DM patients were commercially insured compared to only 38.6% existing T2DM patients. Among the existing T2DM patients, 61.2% were White, 17.9% Non-Hispanic Black, 12.7% Hispanic and 8.2% others. Of this population, 12.7 % had a household income ≥ $125,000, 13.3% had at least a Bachelor’s degree, and 80.3% reside in a metropolitan area. For the newly diagnosed T2DM cohort, 59.7% were White, 15.3% Non-Hispanic Black, 13.4% Hispanic, and 11.6% others. More of the newly diagnosed T2DM cohort had higher household income, higher education, and resided in a metropolitan area compared to patients with existing T2DM. T2DM patients that used virtual care were heterogenous in terms of their baseline characteristics. This underscores the emerging trend that virtual care can potentially play a complementary role in managing patients with diabetes.