ICYMI: Telehealth Increases Care Access For Those Without A Vehicle

Counties Where Households Are Least Likely to Own a Vehicle Also Have the Highest Rates of Telehealth Use

In case you missed it, the latest #TelehealthTuesday from the Partnership to Advance Virtual Care (PAVC) utilized data from the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) listing counties with the least access to a vehicle and compared this map to Medicare’s fee-for-service data claims from 2021. Through the analysis, PAVC found that the counties with the lowest level of vehicle access utilized telehealth services the most.

In this week’s graphic, PAVC shows the four different quartiles of vehicle access as presented by the CDC’s SVI. In the top quartile (least access to a vehicle), Medicare beneficiaries of these counties also reported high rates of telehealth use, with 21.2 percent of beneficiaries having at least one telehealth visit.

These findings emphasize the increased access to health care telehealth provides, especially among traditionally vulnerable populations, such as those highlighted in the CDC’s SVI. These results highlight the need for Congress to act and make permanent protections to safeguard telehealth access.

See this week’s visualization below and get the latest from PAVC’s #TelehealthTuesday HERE.

Learn more about how Congress can act to permanently protect telehealth access HERE.

ABOUT TELEHEALTH ACCESS FOR AMERICA

Telehealth Access for America (TAFA) is a public education campaign supported by leaders in health care committed to better care, expanded patient choice, and protecting access to critical telehealth services. Learn more and take action today at www.telehealthaccessforamerica.org.