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. 2022 Aug;26(8):2581-2587.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-022-03604-w. Epub 2022 Feb 3.

Supporting Retention in HIV Care: Comparing In-Person and Telehealth Visits in a Chicago-Based Infectious Disease Clinic

Arianna I Boshara  1 , Megan E Patton  2 , Bijou R Hunt  3 , Nancy Glick  3 , Amy K Johnson  4
Affiliations

Supporting Retention in HIV Care: Comparing In-Person and Telehealth Visits in a Chicago-Based Infectious Disease Clinic

Arianna I Boshara et al. AIDS Behav. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created increased need for telehealth appointments. To assess differences in appointment adherence for telehealth compared to in-person HIV medical care visits, we conducted a cross-sectional study of patients receiving HIV care in a safety-net hospital-based outpatient infectious disease clinic in a large urban area (Chicago, IL). The sample (N = 347) was predominantly Black (n = 251) and male (62.5%, n = 217); with a mean age of 44.2 years. Appointment attendance was higher for telehealth (78.9%) compared to in-person (61.9%) appointments. Compared to patients without drug use, those with drug use had 19.4 percentage point lower in-person appointment attendance. Compared to those with stable housing, those in unstable housing arrangements had 15.0 percentage point lower in-person appointment attendance. Telehealth as a modality will likely have some staying power as it offers patients newfound flexibility, but barriers to telehealth need to be assessed and addressed.

Keywords: Adherence; HIV; Telehealth; Telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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