JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

As novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is widely spreading across the United States, there is a concern about overloading of the nation’s healthcare capacity. The expansion of telehealth services is expected to deliver timely care for the initial screening of symptomatic patients while minimizing exposure in medical facilities to protect health care providers and other patients. However, it is currently unknown whether US hospitals have the telemedicine capacity to meet the increased demand and needs of patients during this pandemic.

Objective:

We investigated population-level internet search volume for telemedicine (as a proxy of population interest and demand) with the number of new COVID-19 cases and prevalence of hospitals that adopted a telehealth system by US states.

Methods:

We used internet search volume data from Google Trends to measure population-level interest for telehealth and telemedicine between January 21 (when the first COVID-19 case reported) and March 18 in 2020. Data on COVID-19 cases in the US were obtained from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resources Center. We also used data from the 2018 American Hospital Association Annual Survey to estimate the prevalence of hospitals that adopted telemedicine and those with the capability of an electronic intensive care unit (e-ICU) by US 50 states. Pearson’s correlation was used to examine the relations of population search volume for telehealth or telemedicine (composite score) with the cumulative numbers of COVID-19 cases in the U.S during the study period and prevalence of hospitals with telehealth and e-ICU capabilities.

Results:

We found that US population-level interest in telehealth (including telemedicine) increased as the number of COVID-19 cases increased with a strong correlation (r=0.948, P<.001). We observed a higher population-level interest in telehealth in Northeast and West census region, whereas the prevalence of hospitals that adopted telehealth was higher in Midwest region. There was no significant association between population interest and prevalence of hospitals that adopted telehealth (r=0.055, P=.70) nor hospitals having e-ICU capability (r=-0.073, P=.61).

Conclusions:

As the number of COVID-19 cases increases, the US population interest in telehealth hikes. However, the level of population interest did not correlate with the prevalence of hospitals providing telemedicine services in the states, suggesting that increased population demand may not be met with current telehealth capacity. Telecommunication infrastructures in US hospitals may lack the capability to address the ongoing healthcare needs of patients with other health conditions. More practical investment is needed to deploy the telehealth system rapidly against the impending patient surge.