Use of Telemedicine Among People with Multiple Sclerosis Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common progressive neurological condition with onset in young adulthood. Because people with MS (PwMS) are often separated from specialty care by distance or disability, telemedicine can help alleviate that burden by removing obstacles to accessing care. Methods: We surveyed 762 PwMS in the iConquerMS research network about their use of in-person and telemedicine services prepandemic (January-February 2020) and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (September-November 2020). The survey asked PwMS about their use of in-person and telemedicine services, technology access, perceptions and preferences of telemedicine, their most recent telemedicine encounter, and reasons for not using telemedicine. Results: Prepandemic, the most cited reason for not using telemedicine was providers not offering remote visits. During the pandemic, there was a decrease in the use of in-person health care (100% to ∼78%) and an increase in telemedicine utilization (25% to ∼80%). Most participants had access to telemedicine-enabling technologies and a large portion indicated a preference for using telemedicine for some or most/all of their MS health care (41-57%). Before the pandemic, telemedicine utilization was highest for primary care, while during the pandemic, utilization of telemedicine was greatest for general MS care. Mental health telemedicine encounters increased during the pandemic. Discussion: The dramatic increase in telemedicine utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic has provided access for PwMS to multispecialty care. Maintaining the policy changes that enabled remote health care to expand during the pandemic will be critical for sustained access to MS specialty care for this vulnerable population.