Enhancing access to care using telehealth is a priority for improving outcomes among older adults with heart failure, increasing quality of care, and decreasing costs. Telehealth has the potential to increase access to care for patients who live in underresourced geographic regions, have physical disabilities or poor access to transportation, and may not otherwise have access to cardiologists with expertise in heart failure. During the COVID-19 pandemic, access to telehealth expanded, and yet barriers to access, including broadband inequality, low digital literacy, and structural barriers, prevented many of the disadvantaged patients from getting equitable access. Using a health equity lens, this scientific statement reviews the literature on telehealth for older adults with heart failure; provides an overview of structural, organizational, and personal barriers to telehealth; and presents novel interventions that pair telemedicine with in-person services to mitigate existing barriers and structural inequities.

中文翻译：

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患有心力衰竭的老年人的远程医疗和健康公平：美国心脏协会的科学声明

利用远程医疗增加获得护理的机会是改善患有心力衰竭的老年人的治疗结果、提高护理质量和降低成本的首要任务。远程医疗有可能增加生活在资源贫乏地区、身体残疾或交通不便的患者获得护理的机会，并且可能无法获得具有心力衰竭专业知识的心脏病专家的帮助。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，远程医疗的普及范围扩大，但宽带不平等、数字素养低和结构性障碍等获取障碍阻碍了许多弱势患者获得公平的获取服务。这份科学声明从健康公平的角度回顾了有关患有心力衰竭的老年人远程医疗的文献；概述远程医疗的结构、组织和个人障碍；并提出了将远程医疗与面对面服务相结合的新颖干预措施，以减轻现有的障碍和结构性不平等。