Telehealth

The House on March 27 approved a $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package that the Senate passed on Wednesday, which will provide $185 million to support telehealth programs for rural critical access hospitals. 

As COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, various states have begun to expand their availability of telehealth services to promote virtual care during the pandemic. 

Telehealth is expanding across the country as people aim to stay out of the hospital unless they are experiencing severe coronavirus symptoms.

CMS recently highlighted the actions it has taken to promote the availability and usage of telehealth services through private health insurance coverage during the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite mass efforts of clinicians and other healthcare professionals in Massachusetts treating COVID-19 patients, the state now faces a potentially critical overwhelming of its hospital and ambulatory structure by sometime in April, according to healthcare leaders in the state.

Premera Blue Cross will waive cost shares for all telehealth services deemed medically necessary for COVID-19 treatment, effective March 24, the health insurer announced.

New Brunswick, N.J.-based Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital has installed “video robots” in its pop-up tents that transmit a video to a physician inside the emergency room, according to NJ Spotlight.

With elective surgeries canceled, New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery is working to expand its telehealth capabilities.

With COVID-19 cases continuing to increase across the country, many hospitals and health systems are pushing telehealth efforts to limit the spread of infection that can arise with in-person visits, Boston Herald reports. 

As the novel coronavirus continues to spreads, health insurers are beginning to expand coverage for members using telehealth.