Research Insights: Did Demand for Telemedicine Grow During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
We exploit mobility restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic to show the existence of a larger potential demand for telemedicine services in a middle-income developing country. We find an increase in the number of calls by 230 percent during the pandemic. The effects were mostly driven by older individuals with pre-existing conditions who used the service for internal medicine consultations. After the mobility restrictions were lifted, the demand for telemedicine services remained high.
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| Language: | English |
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Inter-American Development Bank
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| Subjects: | Coronavirus, Telemedicine, Pandemic, Health, Health Care System, Health Care Service, Social Distancing, I11 - Analysis of Health Care Markets, I15 - Health and Economic Development, P36 - Consumer Economics • Health • Education and Training • Welfare Income Wealth and Poverty, Health care demand;COVID-9, |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004319 https://publications.iadb.org/en/research-insights-did-demand-telemedicine-grow-during-covid-19-pandemic |
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| Summary: | We exploit mobility restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic to show the existence of a larger potential demand for telemedicine services in a middle-income developing country. We find an increase in the number of calls by 230 percent during the pandemic. The effects were mostly driven by older individuals with pre-existing conditions who used the service for internal medicine consultations. After the mobility restrictions were lifted, the demand for telemedicine services remained high. |
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