Assessing telehealth attitudes and usage in Northwest Colorado

On this episode, we’re reporting from the Broadband Communities Summit in Houston, Texas, where we sit down with Molly Weiner, Director of Local and Regional Planning for Connected Nation. 

Molly shares insights from a new telehealth study focused on seven rural counties in northwest Colorado, conducted in partnership with Colorado’s eHealth Innovation Office.

We explore why many residents still aren’t using telehealth, what’s holding them back, and how education, awareness, and digital skills can bridge the gap.

Recommended Links: 

See the study HERE

CN Telehealth Research

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome back to the Broadband Communities Summit
• 1:26 Overview of the Colorado telehealth study
• 3:08 Barriers to telehealth use
• 4:07 The role of digital navigators and education
• 5:26 Who is most interested in telehealth?
• 6:27 Recommendations: What comes next?
• 10:31 Molly's journey to Connected Nation

Transcript

Jessica Denson (00:07):

On this episode of Connected Nation, we continue our coverage from the Broadband Community Summit. We'll explore what researchers uncovered about the challenges and opportunities surrounding telehealth and rural Colorado. I'm Jessica Denson. This is Connected Nation. I'm still at the Broadband Community Summit, and I am sitting with Molly Weiner, who is the director of local and regional Planning for Connected Nation. She is presenting at a panel with, um, some of our partners later today on a telehealth study that was done in Colorado that looked at seven counties in northwest Colorado. It was done in partnership with the eHealth Innovation Office, which is a state office in Colorado. Welcome, Molly. Thanks, Jessica. Glad to be here. Yeah. Um, I'm excited to get, uh, uh, a taste of what this telehealth study, um, found, and I appreciate you sitting down with us. I know you've been busy. I've seen you running around <laugh> always, um, attending things. Anything good so far that you've seen at the summit? Molly Weiner (01:06):

Oh, yeah. There's been great, uh, conversations all about kind of bead and just a lot kind of on digital transformation and, and what, what communities really need right now in this moment. Jessica Denson (01:16):

Yeah. So it's an important time with bead and everything, with all the new rules. Absolutely, yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, talk about a little bit about this telehealth study. Give us a kind of an overview of it. Molly Weiner (01:26):

Yeah. So the telehealth study really looked at, um, folks in these seven counties in Northwest Colorado. And really we were interested in knowing kind of are they accessing telehealth? If they are, what are they accessing it for? And if they aren't, what are the barriers? What are the reasons why? Because we know that, uh, telehealth access, especially in rural communities, is so important to make sure that folks have access to care. And that oftentimes there are barriers, both health related, but often non-health related, and specifically in our interest, um, related to digital barriers to, uh, adopting healthcare and, and using telehealth. And so we partnered, uh, the office reached out about conducting this study because they were really interested in not only understanding why folks may not be using telehealth, but then building an awareness campaign to help, you know, understand exactly why folks weren't using it, and then coming up with ways to address that, to build some awareness, to maybe share out reasons why that, that folks should be accessing it. And so they really were able to take this data Jessica Denson (02:27):

And really run with it. And I would agree with you that this is extremely important in rural areas, especially when you consider how many hospitals closed down or that there might not be as much access to specialists Correct. In rural areas. Molly Weiner (02:39):

Yeah, I think both of those are really true. We're seeing, you know, rural hospitals close. They're often clinics are further distances even to access primary care. And yes, then being able to access a specialist, folks often drive to their primary care to get that, that access via telehealth to specialty care. So having that connection is really important. Jessica Denson (03:00):

Uh, so Molly, talk about some of the concerns that, uh, that were brought up with the study that we identified. Molly Weiner (03:08):

Yeah. So for a lot of the folks that were using it, they had really positive responses, right? They said it was as good as in-person care, that it was easy to use for them. But when we talked to the people who weren't using telehealth, I mean, some of the things that came up was privacy concerns about not being able to address like their specific health concern over that, um, over a telehealth visit. Um, and there were some, like older adults expressed specific concerns around would their insurance cover it? So kind of you can see some of these education pieces coming out of there. And then we did see also that there were some digital skills barriers too, folks just not feeling as comfortable using a computer or having the skills to kind of log into the portal and get on, uh, a telehealth appointment as well as being kind of, um, a reason why they weren't interested in using telehealth. Jessica Denson (03:56):

So when you see concerns like that, what are some things that, uh, we can advise people do? Do you say like, we need to educate the population a little bit, or what happens then? So Molly Weiner (04:07):

Yeah, I think that building some just education and awareness kind of on how telehealth works, the ease of access for it, right? You know, understanding if your provider has it. But then I think, yeah, addressing these digital skills and having that, oftentimes it's a digital navigator. It's a trusted local person. We see them in libraries, other community places to kind of build that confidence in someone so they know how to log on, how to, you know, do two factor authentication oftentimes to get in the portal, how to set up the zoom call, like building those skills. Um, those non-health barriers, um, are really helpful to getting PE more people using the service. Jessica Denson (04:41):

And when you say there's concerns about privacy, do you mean that they're worried that their medical records will get out, or is that what you're hearing? And, and really for, uh, a lot of these, uh, hospitals, they have to use, they have to abide by hipaa, don't they? Molly Weiner (04:55):

Yes, they do. And hospitals take great care to protect their data. And so I think that that too is kind of a, an area where you can lean in on, we do a lot of internet safety training, right? Helping folks understand where their information is online, how it's protected, and how to make sure that it stays safe. So again, I think it kind of comes down to that, that education piece about how exactly this works, what information is and isn't getting shared right over the internet. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Just to make sure that people feel comfortable. Jessica Denson (05:21):

Were there any other interesting things that came out of the study that we learned? Molly Weiner (05:26):

Uh, we were just, we found that a lot of the telehealth users, the majority of them just kind of expressed no interest in it, kind of as a general concept if they weren't using it already. But there were some groups that we think really could be swayed that with some education in group. And one of those were younger populations, so more likely to express interest and then households with children. And I think that this one's really important. I'm a household with young children. Yeah, wig, I go to the doctor two wigs all of the time with them, uhhuh. And so we saw on average folks who are using, are saving an average of 5.8 visits per year in person to the doctor. So you think of all the time that you're saving, right? Driving there, getting off work, getting your kid out of daycare or school. And so those were kind of groups that really could benefit from this and express interest. So really focusing on them and addressing and getting some education to them so they feel confident using Jessica Denson (06:17):

Telehealth. So did the, the study, it, it released several recommendations. One in addition to educating people, is there, are there other recommendations that were made? Molly Weiner (06:27):

Uh, there were around kind of building those awareness campaigns. So that was one key point. And then, um, really focusing on quality and the efficacy of telehealth. So really making sure people understand that it's high, that it's high quality, that it can match in-person care for a lot of these kind of primary care visits. Jessica Denson (06:44):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Molly Weiner (06:44):

Um, and then recommendations too, that we did the study in rural Northwest Colorado, that more statewide data always would be helpful. It may not translate into, you know, the more urban areas like Denver and Colorado Springs. So really understanding kind of the local perceptions and barriers is really important to be able to address them. Jessica Denson (07:03):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And when we talk about the digital divide, a lot of that is, uh, with the access piece. Um, how critical is it to have that access when it comes to telehealth? Molly Weiner (07:13):

Yeah, I mean, if, if you can't get online at your house, like then none of the things that we do to build awareness and confidence and skills really matter. So access, I mean, is the foundational piece of this. And I mean, I would say access to anchor institutions too, because we often hear that folks are going to libraries to, to access their, you know, to get online and to access medical information. We've seen libraries here in Texas that have actually built rooms that people can do telehealth appointments in, right? Where they know they'll have a working connection and someone to help them troubleshoot and even access to some of the basic equipment you might need to, you know, that can be remotely monitored and accessed. So, uh, I think that having that connection or having places that you can go to with that connection is obviously critical to using telehealth Jessica Denson (07:57):

And connected nations. Put out several telehealth, I would even say, a very forward thinking stuff. Right. Even when the pandemic was happening. Um, what was the antithesis of this? What, what led to this, this research with seven counties? The seven counties that are covered? Molly Weiner (08:15):

Yeah, I think, I mean, connected Nation has a long history of working in the telehealth space, and I think that we have some really unique insights into how communities perceive telehealth. Mm-hmm. I mean, we've done many telehealth studies, but we also, as part of our connected community work, I mean, we are always asking people in every community, the 650 plus we've been in, like, do they use telehealth? What are the bar like? So we're always focused on that as one of the most important use cases for connectivity mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so I think building on that history, um, and we understand its importance that we can apply it in a lot of context. And what time is your panel today? Is that three 10? Three 10? Everyone stick around. Stick Jessica Denson (08:51):

Around <laugh>. Um, it's day two. You never know people you might be packed or might not be. We'll see. Um, uh, as the director of local and regional, uh, planning, let, let's shift just a little bit and talk about your role with Connected Nation. Well, what is it that you do and how do you help local groups? Molly Weiner (09:10):

Yeah, I mean, I, what I love about my job is I get to do a little bit of a lot of things at Connected Nation, but I always say kind of anything that's touching communities, whether it's, you know, at the really local level, the neighborhood, the city of the county, regional, even statewide, right? Anything that kind of involves understanding communities, like I'm probably a part of in some way. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so that means a lot of work, kind of figuring out in partnership with communities what their goals are, and then helping them find the right strategies to get there. Whether it's increasing access, you know, connecting internet service providers to get better connection, whether it's, you know, a lack of skills and connecting them to our digital skills training programs, whether it's affordability and, you know, building partnerships and coalitions to help address community problems. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. I get to kind of dabble in a lot of, a lot of that community work all around, right. Planning for technology and how, uh, it can be leveraged to improve communities. Jessica Denson (10:04):

Yeah. And we're doing stuff at the state level, the local level, all all over place. All over. Yeah. Yeah. Which, and, and you're great at what you do, by the way. Thank, thank you. I've been a witness to it. Um, and so I can attest, uh, also with all of my guests, I'll usually ask some kind of like, Hey, what, what's your background? Who are you? Um, you're a mom of two? I am, yeah. Two new, new newborn, not newborns anymore. 10 month old. 10 months old. Uh, and, and you're at, you're based outta Texas, right? I am, yep. Here in Houston. And, uh, what, what brought you to Connected Molly Weiner (10:31):

Nation? Yeah, I mean, I have spent my whole kind of working career in kind of the nonprofit space. So I started, I as a high school math teacher, Jessica Denson (10:41):

Uhhuh Molly Weiner (10:41):

And loved being in the classroom, but saw a lot of, uh, challenges in the school systems. And so I went to policy school to, to help solve those challenges. And so kind of got involved in Texas politics and advocacy and really, um, came to see through my work and different organizations that, uh, connectivity and access to broadband was really kind of foundational to whether I was, you know, working on education work or we'd work on healthcare or financial stability. Like everything kind of came back to connectivity. And so the opportunity to work with Connected Nation to really kind of solve that foundational issue that unlocks kind of potential across all of these areas that I really care about is exciting to me. Jessica Denson (11:21):

Well, Molly, I really appreciate your time. I look forward to your panel. Molly Weiner with Connected Nation. Thank you so much. Thanks. We'll continue our coverage from the Broadband Community Summit on our next episode of Connected Nation. I'm Jessica Denson. Thanks for listening. If you wanna know more about us, head to connect to nation.org or find our latest episodes on your favorite podcast platforms.