Table 1. Baseline Characteristics Among Patients With Mental Health Diagnoses Served at High vs Low Telehealth FQHCs.
| Characteristica | % Of person-months | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 143 205 person-months)b | Served at FQHC with high telehealth availability (n = 100 007 person-months)b,c | Served at FQHC with low telehealth availability (n = 43 198 person-months)b,d | |
| Age, mean (SD), y | 37.8 (12.5) | 38.1 (12.5) | 37.3 (12.6) |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 88 032 (61.5) | 64 705 (64.7) | 23 327 (54.0) |
| Male | 55 173 (38.5) | 35 302 (35.3) | 19 871 (46.0) |
| Race and ethnicitye | |||
| Hispanic | 48.8 | 47.9 | 51.0 |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 8.7 | 7.2 | 12.7 |
| Non-Hispanic White | 37.2 | 38.9 | 32.9 |
| Other or multiple races | 5.2 | 6.0 | 3.3 |
| Primary languagef | |||
| English | 73.1 | 70.9 | 77.8 |
| Spanish | 22.8 | 23.6 | 21.0 |
| Other | 4.2 | 5.5 | 1.2 |
| Enrolled in Medicaid | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Resided in metropolitan urban areag | 98.8 | 98.7 | 98.9 |
| Chronic Illness and Disability Payment System risk score, mean (SD)h | 2.38 (1.72) | 2.31 (1.65) | 2.54 (1.87) |
| Clinical diagnosis | |||
| Diabetes | 9.5 | 10.2 | 8.0 |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 6.1 | 6.7 | 4.8 |
| Asthma | 20.2 | 19.7 | 21.1 |
| Hypertension | 20.0 | 20.7 | 18.5 |
| Hyperlipidemia | 14.2 | 16.6 | 9.0 |
| Overweight or obesei | 36.2 | 37.7 | 32.8 |
| Morbidly obese | 9.5 | 10.4 | 7.6 |
| Tobacco use | 31.6 | 31.9 | 31.1 |
| Alcohol use disorder | 12.5 | 11.7 | 14.0 |
| Cannabis use disorder | 6.4 | 6.7 | 5.5 |
| All other substance usej | 14.6 | 14.0 | 15.9 |
| Mental health disorders | |||
| Major depression | 49.6 | 51.9 | 44.4 |
| Other depressionk | 7.5 | 8.1 | 6.1 |
| Anxiety | 50.2 | 50.9 | 48.4 |
| Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder | 11.1 | 12.0 | 9.0 |
| Autism spectrum disorder | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.8 |
| Bipolar disorder | 11.8 | 12.2 | 10.7 |
| Other mood disordersl | 16.1 | 15.2 | 17.9 |
| Schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders | 5.3 | 5.9 | 4.2 |
| Posttraumatic stress disorder, trauma, and stressor-related disorders | 38.7 | 43.6 | 27.9 |
| Personality disorders | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| All other mental health disordersm | 44.3 | 44.5 | 43.8 |
| Digital access in household (zip code based) | |||
| Computer, smartphone, tablet, or other device | 90.1 | 90.2 | 89.9 |
| Internet | 84.2 | 84.3 | 84.0 |
| Broadband | 84.0 | 84.1 | 84.0 |
Abbreviation: FQHC, federally qualified health center.
Characteristics are shown for the full study population with any mental health diagnosis, although the denominator populations vary by study measure.
Sample sizes reflect person-months, the unit of analysis. The person-months represent 11 267 unique persons in the full sample, 7756 unique persons in the high telehealth group, and 3411 unique persons in the low telehealth group. Telehealth included real-time video and audio-only visits delivered to remote patients.
High telehealth group included patients with mental health diagnoses at FQHCs in which 50% or more of all visits to the FQHC in the posttelehealth expansion period were delivered via telehealth (mean [SD], 68.0% [13.9%]).
Low telehealth group included patients with mental health diagnoses at FQHCs in which less than 50% of all visits to the FQHC in the posttelehealth expansion period were delivered via telehealth (mean [SD], 25.7% [8.6%]).
Patients self-reported race and ethnicity. Unknown race and ethnicity included 19.7% in the full sample, 16.1% in the high telehealth group, and 27.7% in the low telehealth group. Other races included Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, or other race.
Unknown language included 0.97% in the full sample, 0.95% in the high telehealth group, and 1.0% in the low telehealth group. Forty-six languages are included in the other languages group; the most common were Cape Verdean, Portuguese, Arabic, Vietnamese, French, Nepali, and Russian.
Based on a patient’s zip code, for which metropolitan was defined using the rural-urban commuting area code classification system.
The Chronic Illness and Disability Payment System is a weighted risk score based on a hierarchal vector of 58 disease categories, which accounts for disease severity within each category. In our study sample, scores ranged from 0.2 to 20.9.
Overweight or obese is based on having a body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of 25 or greater.
Other substance use includes opioid use; sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic abuse; cocaine use; other stimulant use; hallucinogen use; inhalant use; and other psychoactive substance use.
Other depression includes diagnoses for other depressive episodes and other recurrent depressive disorders.
Other mood disorders include dysthymic disorder, other persistent mood (affective) disorders, persistent mood (affective) disorder, and unspecified mood (affective) disorder.
Other mental health disorders include other psychosis; disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders; obsessive-compulsive and related disorders; history of suicidal ideation, attempts, or self-inflicted injury; dissociative disorders; conversion disorders; somatization disorders; somatoform disorders; and mental disorders not otherwise specified.