Telehealth Survey Reveals Improvement Measures Needed for Georgia’s Disability Community to Access Health Care Services

With the expansion of telehealth and similar methods of virtual care, many people, particularly people with disabilities, may have questions about the efficacy and availability of telehealth. A study at the Morehouse School of Medicine’s (MSM) National Center of Primary Care (NCPC) strived to answer these questions. Led by Megan Douglas, principal investigator and director of research and policy of the NCPC; Mitchell Blount, co-project lead and associate project director of research of the NCPC; and Rasheera Dopson, research assistant, the team  received a one-year grant from the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) to study the adoption and use of telehealth by people with disabilities in Georgia. The goal was to understand whether and to what extent telehealth has improved access to quality health care services.The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is driven by its Five Year Strategic Plan goals to improve services and supports for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD). The Council, charged with creating systems change for individuals with developmental disabilities and family members, will work through various advocacy and capacity building activities to build a more interdependent, self-sufficient, and integrated and included disability community across Georgia.This project was supported, in part by grant number 2001GASCDD-03, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.