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Introduction: Telehealth has been widely promoted and adopted at multiple levels in the U.S. healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this rapid expansion of telehealth services may have further exacerbated health inequities among marginalized groups. Methods: Using the 2020 National Health Interview Survey, this study compared patterns of telehealth use between people with functional disabilities and people without disabilities during the first year of the pandemic. Results: In the multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models, respondents with moderate disabilities were significantly more likely to report telehealth use, not pandemic related (OR=1.25, 95% CI=1.03, 1.52) and telehealth use, pandemic related (OR=1.43, 95% CI=1.28, 1.60) than people without disabilities. Similarly, respondents with severe disabilities were significantly more likely to report telehealth use, not pandemic related (OR=1.46, 95% CI=1.07, 2.00) and telehealth use, pandemic related (OR=2.06, 95% CI=1.72, 2.46). In addition, telehealth use varied by the number of limitations and disability type. Conclusions: People with functional disabilities were more likely to report telehealth use than people without disabilities. Furthermore, these associations strengthened with increasing disability severity and number of limitations while varying by disability type. Additional studies are warranted to explore ways of providing patient-centered telehealth to responsively meet various healthcare needs of people with functional disabilities and improve their health outcomes.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the entire healthcare system, resulting in unmet needs for medical care (e.g., delayed or forgone care) among patients with cancer. Methods: Using 2020 National Health Interview Survey data, we examined the prevalence of unmet healthcare needs and whether the self-reported experience of having delayed or forgone healthcare is associated with increased emergency services use and hospitalizations. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to assess the associations between unmet healthcare needs because of COVID-19 and emergency services use and hospitalization, controlling for potential confounding. All analysis was conducted in March and April 2022. Results: Among 2,386 study participants living with cancer (representing 25.6 million U.S. adults), 33.7% reported having unmet healthcare needs because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence of unmet healthcare needs was higher among younger cancer survivors and those with higher education. In the adjusted analysis, cancer survivors with unmet healthcare needs were 31% more likely to report any emergency services use (adjusted OR=1.31, 95% CI=1.05, 1.65) than those without. Having unmet healthcare needs was not significantly associated with hospitalization (p=0.465). Conclusions: Our findings highlight the unmet need for cancer care because of the pandemic and potential adverse health outcomes.