Patient Characteristics of VA Telehealth Users During Hurricane Harvey

Abstract

Introduction: Research on patient characteristics of telehealth users is relatively new. More studies are needed to understand the characteristics of telehealth users during disasters. This study attempts to bridge this gap and examines patient characteristics of telehealth users compared with nontelehealth users at the Houston VA Medical Center (VAMC) immediately before and after Hurricane Harvey (2017). Methods: Since use of telehealth services reached its peak and gradually declined within 2 weeks after the landfall, the data analyses focused on 14 days before/14 days after Harvey. Two sets of analyses were conducted using chi-square, t test, and one-way analysis of variance: (1) Patient characteristics of telehealth users were compared with nontelehealth users. (2) Patient characteristics were compared between 3 subgroups of telehealth users. Results: Compared with nontelehealth users, telehealth users were older (mean age: 60.8 vs 58.5 years, P