Telemedicine Commons^™

Primary Care Providers' Perspectives On Telehealth Medicare Annual Wellness Visits For Older Adults In A Midwestern Health System, Vaibhavi Mone, Paul Estabrooks, Jane Potter, Hongmei Wang, Jungyoon Kim

Health Services and Informatics Research

Background

Medicare annual wellness visits (AWVs) are vital for older adults' preventive care, which was transitioned to telehealth modalities during COVID-19. This study examined primary care providers' perceptions of telehealth-delivered AWVs and explored the factors influencing telehealth implementation using the Practical Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model (PRISM).

Participants and Setting

Twenty-five primary care providers from eight clinics within an integrated health system in the Midwestern United States were interviewed. Eligibility required having conducted at least one telehealth AWV for patients aged 65 or older between March 2023 and October 2023.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews lasting 30–45 min were conducted using purposeful …

Federally Qualified Health Center Patients’ Experiences With Remote Patient Monitoring As Part Of Telehealth Services For Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring, Natalia I Heredia, Maria E Fernandez, Ella R Garza, Jabria Pittman, Fernanda Velasco-Huerta, Tracy L Judd, Jocelyn Hunyadi, Elvis Longanga Diese, Deevakar Rogith, William B Perkison, Susan H Fenton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Remote patient monitoring (RPM) for hypertension management has become increasingly popular, demonstrating benefits for both clinics and patients. However, patient engagement in self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring remains low despite healthcare providers' efforts. This study aimed to assess adherence and acceptance of RPM for SMBP among Texas Federally Qualified Health Center patients.

METHODS: Participants enrolled in the SMBP monitoring program were recruited at three health centers. Data was collected from patient health records, and a questionnaire assessed hypertension self-management, technology acceptance, intentions, and attitudes toward SMBP. Thematic analysis was conducted for open-ended responses that followed each item, and multivariate …

Shifting Patterns In Primary Care Telehealth Utilization Among Medicare Beneficiaries And Providers, Yunxi Zhang, Lincy S Lal, Saurabh Chandra, John Michael Swint

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated telehealth adoption, but disparities in its utilization persist. This study examines primary care patient sociodemographic characteristics, telehealth utilization patterns, and provider adoptions before and during the pandemic.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study analyzed data from Mississippi Medicare beneficiaries continuously enrolled in Parts A, B, and D who accessed primary care services from 2019 to 2021.

Results: Among 201 677 Medicare beneficiaries accessing primary care, 1364 used telehealth before the pandemic, compared to 73 994 during the pandemic. Telehealth utilization shifted during the pandemic to younger, female, White beneficiaries, and those enrolled in Medicare due to …

Safety And Clinical Outcomes Of Endovascular Therapy Versus Medical Management In Late Presentation Of Large Ischemic Stroke, Adnan Mujanovic, Daniel Strbian, Jelle Demeestere, João Pedro Marto, Volker Puetz, Raul G Nogueira, Mohamad Abdalkader, Simon Nagel, Jean Raymond, Marc Ribo, Patrik Michel, Shinichi Yoshimura, Osama O Zaidat, Simon Winzer, Santiago Ortega-Gutierrez, Sunil A Sheth, James E Siegler, Anne Dusart, Diogo C Haussen, Hilde Henon, Bettina L Serrallach, Mahmoud H Mohammaden, Markus A Möhlenbruch, Marta Olive-Gadea, Ajit S Puri, Nobuyuki Sakai, Piers Klein, Liisa Tomppo, Francois Caparros, João Nuno Ramos, Mouhammad Jumaa, Syed Zaidi, Tomas Dobrocky, Nicolas Martinez-Majander, Stefania Nannoni, Flavio Bellante, Aaron Rodriguez-Calienes, Sergio Salazar-Marioni, Pekka Virtanen, Daniel Po Kaiser, Rita Ventura, Jessica Jesser, Alicia C Castonguay, Muhammad M Qureshi, Hesham E Masoud, Milagros Galecio-Castillo, Manuel Requena, Riikka Lauha, Wei Hu, Eugene Lin, Zhongrong Miao, Daniel Roy, Hiroshi Yamagami, David J Seiffge, Davide Strambo, Peter A Ringleb, Robin Lemmens, Urs Fischer, Thanh N Nguyen, Johannes Kaesmacher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The benefit of endovascular therapy (EVT) among stroke patients with large ischemic core (ASPECTS 0-5) in the extended time window outside of trial settings remains unclear. We analyzed the effect of EVT among these stroke patients in real-world settings.

Patients and methods: The CT for Late Endovascular Reperfusion (CLEAR) study recruited patients from 66 centers in 10 countries between 01/2014 and 05/2022. The extended time-window was defined as 6-24 h from last-seen-well to treatment. The primary outcome was shift of the 3-month modified Rankin scale (mRS) score. Safety outcomes included symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) and mortality. Outcomes were analyzed …

Patient-Reported Convenience And Effectiveness Of Telehealth For Breast Cancer Management, Akshara Singareeka Raghavendra, Kristofer Jennings, Gil Guerra, Debu Tripathy, Meghan S Karuturi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, telehealth was rarely used for breast cancer management at tertiary care centers. We sought to examine patient satisfaction, experiences, preferences, and perceived effectiveness and technical quality of telehealth visits in follow-up patients receiving routine outpatient care in the breast medical oncology practice at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Methods: We administered a survey to 60 follow-up patients for a duration of 9 months (January 5, 2021 to October 27, 2021) who had at least one telehealth consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic, from April 10, 2020 to October 21, 2021. …

Development And Preliminary Validation Of A Screener For Digital Health Readiness, Kristin Rising, Amanda Guth, Alexzandra Gentsch, Karla Martin Gonzalez, Richard Hass, Lindsey Shughart, Serena Gelfer, Megan Mcvane, Brooke Worster, Amy Leader

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

IMPORTANCE: While telehealth use has grown, patient uptake is variable, which has the potential to increase health disparities. Identifying and understanding individuals' barriers to digital health readiness can help health systems efficiently deploy resources to provide personalized patient-centered support.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate an instrument to evaluate digital health readiness to identify and quantify barriers to digital readiness.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this qualitative mixed-methods study conducted from April 26, 2022, to June 8, 2023, the instrument was created in 4 phases. Patients and health care professionals were interviewed to explore barriers to telehealth use, scale items were …

Abnormal Motion Capture In Acute Stroke (Bionics): A Low-Cost Tele-Evaluation Tool For Automated Assessment Of Upper Extremity Function In Stroke Patients, Syed A Zamin, Kaichen Tang, Emily A Stevens, Melissa Howard, Dorothea M Parker, Allyson Seals, Xiaoqian Jiang, Sean Savitz, Shayan Shams

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The incidence of stroke and stroke-related hemiparesis has been steadily increasing and is projected to become a serious social, financial, and physical burden on the aging population. Limited access to outpatient rehabilitation for these stroke survivors further deepens the healthcare issue and estranges the stroke patient demographic in rural areas. However, new advances in motion detection deep learning enable the use of handheld smartphone cameras for body tracking, offering unparalleled levels of accessibility.

METHODS: In this study we want to develop an automated method for evaluation of a shortened variant of the Fugl-Meyer assessment, the standard stroke rehabilitation scale …

Taking A Load Off: User Perceptions Of Smart Offloading Walkers For Diabetic Foot Ulcers Using The Technology Acceptance Model, M G Finco, Gozde Cay, Myeounggon Lee, Jason Garcia, Elia Salazar, Tze-Woei Tan, David G Armstrong, Bijan Najafi

Center on Aging Staff Publications

People with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are commonly prescribed offloading walkers, but inadequate adherence to prescribed use can be a barrier to ulcer healing. This study examined user perspectives of offloading walkers to provide insight on ways to help promote adherence. Participants were randomized to wear: (1) irremovable, (2) removable, or (3) smart removable walkers (smart boot) that provided feedback on adherence and daily walking. Participants completed a 15-item questionnaire based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Spearman correlations assessed associations between TAM ratings with participant characteristics. Chi-squared tests compared TAM ratings between ethnicities, as well as 12-month retrospective fall …

Dual-Task Upper Extremity Motor Performance Measured By Video Processing As Cognitive-Motor Markers For Older Adults, Changhong Wang, Mohsen Zahiri, Ashkan Vaziri, Bijan Najafi

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Introduction: The use of dual-task model such as dual-task gait has been extensively studied to assess cognitive-motor performance among older adults. However, space restriction and safety factor limit its applications in remote assessment. To address the gap, we propose a video processing-based approach to remotely quantify cognitive-motor performance using a 20-s repetitive elbow flexion-extension test with dual-task condition, called video-based motoric-cognitive meter (MCM).

Methods: Eighteen older participants (age: 78.6 ± 6.5 years) who were clinically diagnosed as having either mild cognitive impairment or dementia were included in this study. Participants were asked to perform 20-s repetitive elbow flexion-extension exercise with …

Telemedicine Coverage For Post-Operative Icu Patients., Tara Ann Collins, Matthew P. Robertson, Corinna P. Sicoutris, Michael A. Pisa, Daniel N. Holena, Patrick M. Reilly, Benjamin A. Kohl

Department of Anesthesiology Faculty Papers

Introduction There is an increased demand for intensive care unit (ICU) beds. We sought to determine if we could create a safe surge capacity model to increase ICU capacity by treating ICU patients in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) utilizing a collaborative model between an ICU service and a telemedicine service during peak ICU bed demand. Methods We evaluated patients managed by the surgical critical care service in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) compared to patients managed in the virtual intensive care unit (VICU) located within the PACU. A retrospective review of all patients seen by the surgical critical …

Chess Improves Cancer Caregivers' Burden And Mood: Results Of An Ehealth Rct, Lori L. Dubenske, David H. Gustafson, Kang Namkoong, Robert P. Hawkins, Amy K. Atwood, Roger L. Brown, Ming-Yuan Chih, Fiona Mctavish, Cindy L. Carmack, Mary K. Buss, Ramaswamy Govindan, James F. Cleary

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: Informal caregivers (family and friends) of people with cancer are often unprepared for their caregiving role, leading to increased burden or distress. Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) is a Web-based lung cancer information, communication, and coaching system for caregivers. This randomized trial reports the impact on caregiver burden, disruptiveness, and mood of providing caregivers access to CHESS versus the Internet with a list of recommended lung cancer websites.

METHODS: A total of 285 informal caregivers of patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer were randomly assigned to a comparison group that received Internet or a treatment group that …

The Effectiveness Of Telemedicine For Weight Management In The Move! Program, April D. Ahrendt, Kendra K. Kattelmann, Thomas S. Rector, David A Maddox

Health and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

PURPOSE: To examine the effectiveness of videoconferencing technology for delivering comprehensive weight management treatment.
METHODS: This retrospective cohort study was conducted by extraction of data from medical records for the years 2008-2010. The treatment included a series of 12 weekly MOVE!® classes delivered using videoconferencing. Data were extracted from the time of baseline weight to 1 year after baseline weight for the MOVE! participants (n = 60) and from a concurrent control group (n = 60) that did not participate in MOVE! treatment.
FINDINGS: Results indicated that the MOVE! group lost weight while the control group gained weight, resulting in …

An Ehealth System Supporting Palliative Care For Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Randomized Trial, David H. Gustafson, Lori L. Dubenske, Kang Namkoong, Robert Hawkins, Ming-Yuan Chih, Amy K. Atwood, Roberta Johnson, Abhik Bhattacharya, Cindy L. Carmack, Anne M. Traynor, Toby C. Campbell, Mary K. Buss, Ramaswamy Govindan, Joan H. Schiller, James F. Cleary

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: In this study, the authors examined the effectiveness of an online support system (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System [CHESS]) versus the Internet in relieving physical symptom distress in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS: In total, 285 informal caregiver-patient dyads were assigned randomly to receive, for up to 25 months, standard care plus training on and access to either use of the Internet and a list of Internet sites about lung cancer (the Internet arm) or CHESS (the CHESS arm). Caregivers agreed to use CHESS or the Internet and to complete bimonthly surveys; for patients, these tasks …