Enhancing healthcare accessibility through telehealth for justice impacted individuals

Front Public Health. 2024 Aug 8:12:1401950. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1401950. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Telehealth is a great tool that makes accessing healthcare easier for those incarcerated and can help with reentry into the the community. Justice impacted individuals face many hardships including adverse health outcomes which can be mitigated through access to telehealth services and providers. During the federally recognized COVID-19 pandemic the need for accessible healthcare was exacerbated and telehealth use surged. While access to telehealth should be considered a necessity, there are many challenges and barriers for justice impacted individuals to be able to utilize this service. This perspective examines aspects of accessibility, pandemic, policy, digital tools, and ethical and social considerations of telehealth in correctional facilities. Carceral facilities should continue to innovate and invest in telehealth to revolutionize healthcare delivery, and improve health outcomes for justice impacted individuals.

Keywords: Medicaid; accessibility; digital health technology; justice impacted individuals; prison health; telehealth.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19*
  • Correctional Facilities
  • Health Services Accessibility*
  • Humans
  • Prisoners
  • Prisons
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Telemedicine*

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.