Abstract
This critical review of literature evaluates the impact of COVID-19 on health and mental health care delivery in rural Indiana, specifically the move to increased telehealth services. Telehealth has been a mostly positive experience for patients and providers. However, many Indiana residents are without the option of telehealth due to underdeveloped infrastructure that is necessary to support broadband access. This disparity is evidence of a larger social and health justice issue and illuminates a call to action for social workers on all levels to collaborate with community members, government agencies, and local programs to push the issue towards the public health arena and to promote broadband access as a human right.
Highlights
This critical review of literature evaluates the impact of COVID-19 on health and mental health care delivery in rural Indiana, the move to increased telehealth services
Telehealth is illuminating a lack of equitable internet access and infrastructure in rural areas, which needs to be addressed as a social and health justice issue
In 2004, healthcare providers had already found that rural residents did not have sufficient broadband to effectively engage in telehealth services and medical professionals were advocating for better rural internet access (Schopp et al, 2006)
Summary
This research was conducted primarily from August to December, 2020. EBSCO databases were used and searches included the terms “rural,” “telehealth,” “COVID-19,” and “Indiana.” The Rural Health Information Hub database (2021) was used and included searches through the database state guide for Indiana and by topic under “Rural Response to COVID-19” and “Telehealth.” Due to the emerging nature of the topics in this paper, grey literature was reviewed. The grey literature included federal and state government websites, community organization websites, and webinars and trainings for communities and practitioners
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