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Good practice Imported

VHA Digital Divide Consult & Connected Device Program

United States of America · Washington · See the United States of America profile · See the Washington profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 24% 92/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

The US Veterans Health Administration's Digital Divide Consult (2020) standardises referrals for free loaned tablets and data. A 2024 cohort study found 119,926 tablet recipients up to 2.95x more likely to use video telehealth, though 37% had no video visit in six months.

119,926
Tablets distributed (Apr 2020-Feb 2023)
2.73-2.95x
Likelihood of monthly video visits vs other VHA patients
63%
Recipients with a video visit within 6 months
93.5%
Medical centres adopting the consult (by Dec 2020)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Veterans Health Administration (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)
Period
2016-present
Keywords
veterans, telehealth, digital equity, healthcare access, tablet distribution

Context

Since 2016 the US Veterans Health Administration has loaned video-capable tablets with cellular data to veterans lacking technology for telehealth. A Digital Divide Consult introduced in September 2020 lets any treating clinician flag a veteran for a free device through the electronic health record, with a VA social worker confirming eligibility; 93.5% of VHA medical centres had adopted the consult by December 2020.

Results

VHA distributed 119,926 tablets between April 2020 and February 2023 (about 2% of active users). A 2024 JMIR cohort study found recipients were 2.73-2.95 times more likely to have monthly video visits than the general VHA population, with 63% completing a video visit within six months - but 37% had none, and uptake was lower among hospice-referred (55.2%) and homebound (58.3%) veterans, evidence that devices alone do not guarantee engagement.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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