Patient Characteristics Associated with Telemedicine Use for Diabetes Mellitus Care: Experience of a University Health System.

Abstract

The objective was to understand the characteristics of patients who used telemedicine for diabetes management to inform future implementation of telemedicine. We examined patient characteristics associated with telemedicine use for diabetes mellitus (DM) care between March 1, 2020 and April 1, 2021 (the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic period) in a large university health system when telemedicine visits increased rapidly. Logistic regression models assessed patient characteristics associated with telemedicine visits and delays in DM process measures (hemoglobin A1c checks, nephropathy, and retinopathy evaluations) during the pandemic period after adjusting for potential confounders and corresponding values before the pandemic period (March 1, 2019-February 29, 2020). A total of 45,159 patients were seen from 987,791 visits during the pandemic period. The number of visits averaged one visit less during the pandemic period than before the pandemic period. Approximately 5.4% of patients used telemedicine during the pandemic period from 42,750 visits. The mean (standard deviation) telemedicine visit was 1.28 (0.91). Men, Asian, Black, and other race (vs White), having Medicare or uninsured (vs private insurance), were less likely to use telemedicine. Patients with more visits before the pandemic period were more likely to use telemedicine and less likely to experience a delay in DM process measures during the pandemic period. Telemedicine users were 18% less likely to experience a delay in nephropathy visits than nonusers, but without difference for other process measures. Race, sex, insurance, and prepandemic in-person visits were associated with telemedicine use for DM management in a large health system. Telemedicine use was not associated with delays in hemoglobin A1c testing, nephropathy, and retinopathy assessments. Understanding reasons for not using telemedicine is important to be able to deliver equitable DM care.