Travel Distance Between Patients and Providers for Medicare Outpatient Oncology Telehealth and Office Visits, 2021–2023: A Cross-Sectional Claims Study

By
Lingbo Liu
Tracy Onega
Erika L Moen
Anna N A Tosteson
Rebecca E Smith
Qianfei Wang
Lauren Cowan
Fahui Wang
October 23, 2026

Jmir Medical Informatics

At a Glance

Category	Detail
Condition	Geographic distance between patients and providers in outpatient oncology care
Key Mechanisms	Telehealth encounters were associated with modestly greater patient-provider distance, particularly at the upper end of the distance distribution; the measure represents geographic service reach, not travel for virtual visits.
Target Population	Traditional Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 66 years or older receiving outpatient care for breast, colon, rectal, endometrial, lung, or prostate cancer during 2021–2023.
Care Setting	Medicare outpatient oncology care, comparing telehealth with in-person office visits.

Key Highlights

Across rurality categories, median patient-provider distances were greater for telehealth than office visits, with differences of 0.9 to 3.2 miles.
Telehealth increased the distance encompassing 80% of visits (d80) by approximately 8 to 14 miles across rurality categories.
Telehealth and office-visit distance distributions remained closely aligned within every rurality stratum and Census region.
Median distances and dispersion increased as rurality increased for both encounter types.
The study measured straight-line geographic separation using beneficiary and provider ZIP-code centroids, not actual travel distance.

Guideline-Based Recommendations

Diagnosis

Management

Monitoring & Follow-up

Assess whether telehealth reduces high-burden travel for patients most affected and whether benefits are distributed equitably, as proposed by the study authors.

Risks

The study authors note that telehealth alone does not remove structural contributors to travel burden, including workforce maldistribution, regionalization of specialty services, and unequal digital infrastructure.
Telehealth access may depend on digital infrastructure, patient support, and regulatory circumstances, including cross-state care and licensure.

Patient & Prescribing Data

Traditional Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 66 years or older with outpatient care for breast, colon, rectal, endometrial, lung, or prostate cancer, 2021–2023.

This claims study compared telehealth and office visits; it did not evaluate medication prescribing or treatment effectiveness. The authors describe telehealth as supplementing facility-based services that require physical presence.

Clinical Best Practices

Interpret telehealth patient-provider distance as geographic service reach, not travel undertaken for the virtual encounter.
Consider that diagnosis, imaging, infusion, radiation, procedures, and surgery often continue to require in-person services, as described in the article.
When evaluating access, account for rurality and digital infrastructure, patient support, and regulatory circumstances.