ERIC Number: ED625938
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023-Jan
Pages: 66
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
School-Based Healthcare and Absenteeism: Evidence from Telemedicine. EdWorkingPaper No. 23-698
Komisarow, Sarah; Hemelt, Steven W.
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
The prevalence of school-based healthcare has increased markedly over the past decade. We study a modern mode of school-based healthcare, telemedicine, that offers the potential to reach places and populations with historically low access to such care. School-based telemedicine clinics (SBTCs) provide students with access to healthcare during the regular school day through private videoconferencing with a healthcare provider. We exploit variation over time in SBTC openings across schools in three rural districts in North Carolina. We find that school-level SBTC access reduces the likelihood that a student is chronically absent by 2.5 percentage points (29 percent) and reduces the number of days absent by about 0.8 days (10 percent). Relatedly, access to an SBTC increases the likelihood of math and reading test-taking by between 1.8-2.0 percentage points (about 2 percent). Heterogeneity analyses suggest that these effects are driven by male students. Finally, we see suggestive evidence that SBTC access reduces violent or weapons-related disciplinary infractions among students but has little influence on other forms of misbehavior.
Descriptors: School Health Services, Access to Health Care, Medicine, Telecommunications, Attendance Patterns, School Violence, Weapons, Mathematics Tests, Reading Tests, Incidence, Gender Differences, Student Behavior, Mental Health, Elementary Secondary Education
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: AISR_Info@brown.edu; Web site: http://www.annenberginstitute.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research
Authoring Institution: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Identifiers - Location: North Carolina
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A