Can You Hear Me Now? Telephone-Based Teleneuropsychology Improves Utilization Rates in Underserved Populations.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the continued disparity of adverse health outcomes previously seen in other disease states In fact, recent data show that COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates are roughly four times higher in the Black population and three times higher in the Hispanic/Latinx cohort when compared with Whites The pandemic also required a rapid shift in telemedicine delivery to minimize face-to-face interaction and to quell the spread Telemedicine already occurs across several disciplines, including primary care, radiology, neurology, behavioral health, psychiatry, and neuropsychology Historically, these services were geared toward providing specialty care to rural and underserved populations Therefore, telemedicine neuropsychological services have the potential to increase access to services and decrease no-show rates compared with in-person evaluation by reducing barriers related to accessibility, including the burden of transportation Telehealth-based neuropsychology (TeleNP) research supports the feasibility of videoconferencing delivery with good reliability and validity (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)