Pitt Pediatrics congratulates Kelsey Schweiberger, MD, MS, for her recent publication in Pediatric Research, titled, “Scheduled and attended pediatric primary care telemedicine appointments during COVID-19.” Schweiberger is an Instructor in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics whose clinical and research efforts focus on integrating health services research, quality improvement, and clinical informatics to improve child health outcomes through the appropriate application of technology. 
In this study, Schweiberger aimed to examine the proliferation and successes of the use of telemedicine among pediatric patients during the first year of the COVID pandemic, when the use of remote healthcare platforms became relatively commonplace. By using electronic health record data from two academic pediatric primary care practices between April 2020 and March 2021, Schweiberger and her research team used statistical models to determine demographic characteristics associated with scheduled and attended telemedicine appointments.
Findings demonstrated that among the over 5,000 primary care telemedicine appointments scheduled during the study period, the proportion scheduled was higher for children in families with a language preference other than English or Spanish, as was those originating from ZIP codes with the lowest household technology access. Eighty percent of scheduled telemedicine visits were attended, and the likelihood of attending a visit was highest for children whose families preferred a language other than English or Spanish, and those who scheduled the appointment the same day.
These results demonstrate that efforts focused on the accessibility of telemedicine improved equity in access over time. Schweiberger was subsequently profiled in Pediatric Research, where she further discussed her background and efforts in finding equitable solutions for children with technology-enabled healthcare.
Despite this success of this research, there is still work to be done. Schweiberger notes, “for my future work, I will turn my attention upstream of telemedicine to the patient portal. As the patient portal is the entry point to digital engagement with healthcare, including telemedicine, I am hopeful that improvements in equity and access to the patient portal will have downstream effects on telemedicine and future digital innovations.”
Follow Pitt Pediatrics on Twitter for ongoing updates on the work and research in telemedicine as it relates to providing equitable healthcare for pediatric populations.