Top of Mind 2021 Program Recap

19 Top of Mind 2021 Recap We saw telehealth go right through the roof so quickly. Unfortunately, we still saw some health equity problems in telehealth. I know in our own populations that we serve here we saw a significant difference in the number of our Black members in our health plan versus our white members that use telehealth” “ The working poor also were more likely to be infected by COVID-19 because they were unable to work from home and traveled by public transit. Many have inadequate access to health care services or insurance, and there is also a greater prevalence of comorbid and preexisting conditions in communities of color, which can lead to more severe COVID illness. “All of those I think, contributed both to the spread and the severity of the impact of the pandemic on communities of color in particular,” Dr. Morrison said. Telehealth’s benefit on access not evenly distributed Holder added that the disparities in race extended to the use of technology in accessing health services during the pandemic. While the rise of telehealth during the pandemic has been lauded for improving access to health care, Holder pointed out that not all communities used telehealth. “We saw telehealth go right through the roof so quickly. Unfortunately, we still saw some health equity problems in telehealth. I know in our own populations that we serve here we saw a significant difference in the number of our Black members in our health plan versus our white members that use telehealth,” Holder said. Reducing health, economic, and technological disparities by having strategies for boosting technology use across all populations and communities is “the big opportunity, the big promise,” Holder said. Dr. Morrison agreed. “Certainly, there has been a digital divide that’s been documented by income and race. One of the things we better think about is how do we address that imbalance and that digital divide,” he said. In addition to health and economic disparities, “The Future of the Health Care Marketplace” covered other vital topics that are top of mind for health leaders across the country. Holder and Dr. Morrison discussed the importance of moving the health system toward value-based care, improving data sharing to spur innovation, and the role of technology companies and other non-traditional health care players in the future, among other topics.