Primary Care Appointment Completion Rates and Telemedicine Utilization Among Black and Non-Black Patients from 2019 to 2020.

To understand how differences in primary care appointment completion rates between Black and non-Black patients changed in 2020 within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and when telemedicine utilization peaked. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the electronic health record from January 1 to December 31, 2020, among all adults scheduled for a primary care appointment within a large academic medical center. We used mixed-effects logistic regression to estimate adjusted appointment completion rates for Black patients compared with those for non-Black patients in 2020 as compared with those in 2019 within four time periods: (1) prepandemic (January 1, 2020, to March 12, 2020), (2) shutdown (March 13, 2020, to June 3, 2020), (3) reopening (June 4, 2020, to September 30, 2020), and (4) second wave (October 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020).

Clinician Decisions After Notification of Elevated Blood Pressure Measurements From Patients in a Remote Monitoring Program.

Importance: Guidelines recommend using telehealth for hypertension management, but insufficient evidence is available to guide strategies for incorporating telehealth data into clinical practice.

Objective: To describe how primary care teams responded to elevated remote blood pressure (BP) alerts in the electronic health record (EHR) in a randomized clinical trial of BP telemonitoring conducted in routine practice settings.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study reviewed EHR documentation from May 8, 2018, to August 9, 2019, in a single urban academic family practice site.

Patient Characteristics Associated With Telemedicine Access for Primary and Specialty Ambulatory Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Importance: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has required a shift in health care delivery platforms, necessitating a new reliance on telemedicine.

Objective: To evaluate whether inequities are present in telemedicine use and video visit use for telemedicine visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this cohort study, a retrospective medical record review was conducted from March 16 to May 11, 2020, of all patients scheduled for telemedicine visits in primary care and specialty ambulatory clinics at a large academic health system.

Prevalence of Informal Caregiving in States Participating in the US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Balancing Incentive Program, 2011-2018.

Importance: The Balancing Incentives Program (BIP), established under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provided federal funding for states to shift long-term care out of institutional settings and into the home. However, the association of its implementation with informal caregiving is not known.

Objective: To evaluate the association between BIP participation and the prevalence and frequency of informal caregiving and socioeconomic disparities among caregivers.