FQHC Telehealth Visits Work to Close Racial Health Disparities in MA

Federally qualified health center (FQHC) telehealth visits have exceeded one million in Massachusetts since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, proving telehealth to be convenient for communities of color, the Massachusetts FQHC Telehealth Consortium announced.

The Telehealth Consortium consists of a partnership between the accountable care organization Community Care Cooperative and the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.

According to data that the Consortium gathered between March 2020 and May 2021, telehealth has proved to be a convenient healthcare option for communities of color. Communities of color were hit especially hard by the pandemic, and many turned to telehealth for primary care and behavioral healthcare services.

“While telehealth played an essential role in maintaining continuity of care throughout the pandemic, our health centers see its continued popularity among low-income communities and communities of color, even as in-person visits are now available,” Christina Severin, president and chief executive officer of Community Care Cooperative, stated in the press release.

“As we pass one million telemedicine visits, the numbers validate what we’ve seen: telehealth provides opportunities for increased access to care and diminishes health inequities faced by Medicaid patients as a result of institutionalized racism in our health care system.”

More than 700,000 patients received primary care services through telehealth visits during the pandemic. Over one in three patients (31 percent) identified as Hispanic. Almost a quarter of the patients (21 percent) were Black, more than six percent were more than one race, and five percent were Asian/Pacific Islander.

Telehealth use for behavioral healthcare services was also popular for people of color, with 31 percent of patients identifying as Hispanic and Black individuals making up 23 percent of the visits. More than five percent identified as more than one race and 4.56 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander.

The one million visits coincide with the Consortium passing the halfway mark of its Phase Two $12 million fundraising goal. The organization aims to achieve telehealth success and sustainability at its health centers and address health disparities, such as the digital divide.

Access to technology remains a significant barrier to telehealth. The Consortium’s funds will go toward providing better access to broadband internet, remote patient monitoring equipment, and increased digital literacy to its underserved communities.

Phase Two of the campaign kicked off in Fall 2020 when an anonymous donor awarded $1 million to the Consortium to create bandwidth at nine pilot sites to help integrate telehealth into FQHCs, the press release explained.

The FCC granted $3.1 million to the campaign which provided equipment and hot spots for broadband access. The most recent grant from the Gordon and Betty Moor Foundation will help stabilize hypertension in patients, specifically Black patients.

“The digital divide disparately impacts poor communities and communities of color,” Michael Curry, president and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, said in the press release.

“Access to broadband and other technology is a social determinant of health that must be prioritized in order to avoid the deepening of existing racial health inequities. We will work to focus policymakers on this emerging issue and champion solutions to meet this basic need for everyone who lives in the Commonwealth – and beyond.”