Racial Gap In Primary Care Narrowed In 2020 Following Telemedicine Expansion

Prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency, Black consumers in the Philadelphia area served by Penn Medicine completed about 60% of scheduled primary care visits, compared to 70% for non-Black consumers. However, after the telemedicine expansion that occurred to adapt to COVID-19, the visit completion gap narrowed. From March through December 2020, both Black and non-Black consumers completed 80% of their scheduled primary care visits. The rise in primary care visit completion rates was attributed to Penn Medicine’s adoption of telemedicine.

During the COVID-19 public health emergency, about 33% of primary . . .