Analyzing Linguistic Disparities in Telehealth Care Outcomes at a Multidisciplinary Craniofacial Center.

OBJECTIVE

To examine linguistic disparities between English- and Spanish-speaking patients in access to care, satisfaction, and telehealth appointment attendance.

DESIGN

Retrospective study recording demographics for non-attendance analysis and conducting phone surveys assessing satisfaction with telehealth.

SETTING

Data was collected between March and December 2020 at the UCSF Craniofacial Center (CFC), a multidisciplinary pediatric clinic. Patients: English- and Spanish-speaking patients with a telehealth appointment. Interventions: The CFC offered language-concordant outreach, assistance with the telehealth platform, and interpreters at all telehealth appointments.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Demographics and patient-reported satisfaction with telehealth, barriers, and instruction clarity.

RESULTS

Medicaid insurance was the only predictor of non-attendance. Surveys revealed that Spanish-speakers had 12.4 times the odds of lacking access to telehealth technology and 10.7 times the odds of needing help with logging on compared to English-speakers. There were no significant differences in satisfaction outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

We attribute this equity in satisfaction to our language-concordant outreach efforts.