Pre-COVID-19 Disparities in Telemedicine Use Among Louisiana Medicaid Beneficiaries

We examine trends in telemedicine use by race, geography, and age among Louisiana Medicaid beneficiaries in the months preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Louisiana Medicaid claims data from January 2018 through February 2020, we calculated a relative ratio of telemedicine use as the share of telemedicine claims by race, age, and geography and conducted two-sample t-tests. In 2018, White beneficiaries used telemedicine at a relative ratio of 1.92 compared with Black beneficiaries (p < 0.001) and 2.02 compared with Hispanic beneficiaries (p < 0.001). Rural beneficiaries used telemedicine at a relative ratio of 1.27 (p < 0.001) compared with urban beneficiaries. Children and adolescents used telemedicine at a higher rate than other age groups. Racial and geographic disparities narrowed in the first months of 2020. Telemedicine use in Louisiana Medicaid was low but growing before the pandemic with narrowing disparities by race and geography and emerging disparities by age.