Older adults have a hard time accessing virtual healthcare
Researchers found that more than one third of people over 65 years old would have some degree of problems with telemedicine. (Pex/)This is a golden age for telemedicine, so says health providers and medical researchers as they attempt to provide high quality care during the COVID-19 pandemic. But medical professionals are also concerned that some of the most vulnerable older adults are being left out of this transition to telehealth-based care.In a study out this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers at the University of California San Francisco tried to pinpoint what percent of Medicare beneficiaries would have trouble navigating telemedicine, whether on the phone or on a computer. The researchers found that more than one third of people over 65 years old would have some degree of problems with telemedicine. These results have left the researchers calling for more intentional accommodations for older adults in telemedicine, especially as the...