Hispanic/Latino Communities Lead Telehealth Visits for Mental Health Services During COVID-19 - Seite 2

Historically, major depression and anxiety are underdiagnosed at rates of 32-40 percent less in Black and Hispanic/Latino communities, according to the BCBS Health Index. The American Psychological Association says that lower diagnosis rates are likely driven by lack of provider understanding of cultural differences, stigma around diagnosis or treatment and barriers getting care.

For Medicaid members with an existing mental health diagnosis, the most common telehealth diagnoses were anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, according to the special State of the Nation’s Mental Health report. High blood pressure was among the top five diagnoses for Black, Asian and Hispanic/Latino people, while high cholesterol was a top five medical diagnosis for Hispanic/Latino and Asian people. Opioid use disorder was one of the top five diagnoses for White people, while severe back pain was a top diagnosis for Black people. These data reinforce that mental health and physical health are connected and improving one can help the other.

“While telehealth wasn’t a panacea in eliminating health equity gaps, it helped boost connectivity for all and made Internet visits possible when COVID temporarily closed physical doors, allowing health care to continue to be delivered with some semblance of normalcy,” Agrawal said. “This study is a key reminder that technology alone won’t be sufficient to bridge this gap and the bridge may not be the same for all people. However, it may be the connector needed by certain communities or geographic areas. Clearly, outcomes during the pandemic would have been much worse without telehealth.”

Interestingly, members used telehealth and in-person mental health services similarly whether they lived in an urban or rural area.

Anthem will continue to evolve the following efforts to ensure that it can bridge the gaps for all people that take into consideration their specific needs. Some of these efforts include:

• Social drivers of health benefits that can assist in improving health equity for physical and mental health.
• Peer programs, such as those offered by Anthem and Beacon, may also help create trust by pairing members with someone who has the same lived experience.
• Education and informative efforts that involve connections to trusted sources, like churches and even barbershops, have been shown to have greater impact on community acceptance of health services.
• Continuing Medical Education programs, such as www.mydiversepatients.com, that train clinicians about bias and cultures different from their own, and go a long way in creating stronger, more trusting and culturally responsive relationships between clinicians and patients.

Anthem supports making permanent many of the telehealth policy changes that have occurred during COVID beyond the public health emergency. These include legislative and regulatory policies that: