ANALYZING AND MITIGATING TELEHEALTH DISPARITIES AND BARRIERS

The Department of Medicine is the largest academic department in the Mount Sinai Health System, a large New York City-based hospital network. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Department of Medicine logged over 4,000 telehealth encounters. By June 2020, the number of telehealth encounters spiked to over 18,000, and remains far greater than prior to the pandemic. The Department of Medicine enlisted a team to identify and analyze the major barriers to telehealth access and utilization, and to develop mitigation strategies to address telehealth disparities in underserved populations. The team conducted a literature review, interviewed leaders in the field, ran provider and staff surveys, and analyzed de-identified aggregate patient utilization and satisfaction data. With its findings, the team produced a final report that confirms telehealth disparities across race, payer type, age, and sex/gender, and provides targeted recommendations to foster equitable telehealth utilization.