ABSTRACT
Objective
To analyze the factors associated with non-attendance at a urology telehealth clinic
in a large urban safety-net hospital after institutional-mandated transition to telehealth
due to COVID-19.
Methods
We identified all encounters scheduled for telehealth after March 17, 2020 and in
the subsequent 8 weeks. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated
with attendance.
Results
In total there were 322 telehealth encounters, 228 (70.8%) of which were attended
and 94 (29.2%) that were not attended. Racial/ethnic minorities accounted for 175
(77.0%) of attended and 73 (76.7%) of non-attended encounters. On multivariable regression,
single/divorced/widowed (odds ratio [OR] 2.36, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26-4.43),
current substance use disorder (OR 5.33, 95% CI 2.04-13.98), and being scheduled for
a new patient appointment (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.04-3.13) were associated with higher
odds of not attending a telehealth encounter. Race/ethnicity, primary language, and
country of birth were not associated with odds of attendance.
Conclusion
Our findings identify several social factors (social support, substance use) associated
with non-attendance at outpatient telehealth urology encounters at an urban safety-net
hospital during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. These barriers may have
a greater impact specifically within a safety-net healthcare system and will inform
equitable provision of urology telehealth programs in the future
Funding
Goldberg-Benioff Endowed Professorship in Cancer Biology. The sponsors had no involvement
with this study.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 27, 2021
Accepted:
August 11,
2021
Received:
January 28,
2021
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc.
