Telehealth Adoption by Mental Health Agencies and Disparities in Care Among Medicaid-Enrolled Youths

What is it about?

We investigated the impact of mental health agencies' telehealth adoption on access to care for Medicaid-enrolled youths in Philadelphia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings revealed that agencies primarily serving Black youths were less likely to offer telehealth services. Consequently, Black youths received significantly less mental health care compared to their White counterparts. These results suggest that the transition to telehealth may have exacerbated pre-existing racial disparities in mental health care access among Philadelphia's youth population.

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