Child Health, Vulnerability, and Complexity: Use of Telehealth to Enhance Care for Children and Youth With Special Health Care Needs

Telehealth has the potential to improve quality of care, particularly deficiencies related to access and patient experience of care. Telehealth may also reduce disparities for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) by alleviating barriers to accessing in-person care, for example, making it easier to access care for those residing in rural areas and children with medical complexity who are particularly fragile. While important foundational work has been done to study telehealth’s effectiveness and implementation, key knowledge gaps remain regarding its use for CYSHCN. Authors review the current knowledge around telehealth, identify populations for whom telehealth could be especially beneficial, discuss the important gaps identified, and make recommendations for specific studies that will help move the field forward. 

This article is part of a supplement to Academic Pediatrics that outlines a national health systems research agenda for CYSHCN. Learn more about the supplement and access all the articles.