Date of Conferral
4-13-2024
Date of Award
4-13-2024
Degree
Doctor of Healthcare Administration (D.H.A.)
School
Health Services
Advisor
Edessa Jobli
Abstract
The recent expansion of telehealth in the United States has created an opportunity for increased access to care for all patients, especially those with historically limited access. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, logistic regression analysis was used to determine if there is an association between community socioeconomic disparity level and telehealth utilization by healthcare providers. Secondary datasets were obtained through an independent insurance brokerage based in California. They contained claim level detail of patient visits conducted with outpatient healthcare providers in California. A random sample of 1,000 cases from the dataset were used for the completion of the study. Communities with higher disparity rates (lower socioeconomic status) were less likely to receive care through telehealth. The analysis demonstrated that low disparity communities were 3.72 times more likely to receive care via telehealth, and those in high disparity communities were .338 times as likely to receive care via telehealth than moderately disparate communities. The outcomes of this study demonstrated that higher disparity communities do not have the same level of utilization of telehealth, which has demonstrated benefits around access to higher quality care and better healthcare outcomes. Implications for positive social change include helping inform expanded healthcare access opportunities to patients in socioeconomically disparate communities, which can lead to improved physical and mental health.
Recommended Citation
Goodgame, Brittney, "Socioeconomic Disparity Level and Telehealth Utilization Among Outpatient Healthcare Providers in California" (2024). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 15638.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/15638
