Health New England is expanding federally mandated coverage of at-home COVID-19 tests to include its Medicare Advantage members. 

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth use surged as people retreated inside. Despite some decline in usage in September and October 2021, telemedicine is likely to remain a fixture of healthcare moving forward. 

Lakeland (Fla.) Regional Health purchased a minority interest in BayCare HomeCare, the home health company created by Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System, according to a Jan. 18 news release.

The American Telemedicine Association has partnered with telehealth organizations to form an advocacy group. 

Virtual care isn't just seeing an increase in patient volume amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but also an increase in patient savings, according to a Cigna analysis shared with Becker's. 

Six of the nation's 13 largest payers currently offer direct coverage for at-home COVID-19 tests, according to a Jan. 20 Kaiser Family Foundation study. 

Marlton, N.J.-based Virtua Health rolled out a hospital-at-home program, according to a Jan. 19 report in New Jersey Business Magazine.

Virtual care has become a permanent fixture in care delivery. Now, hospitals and health systems must transition from implementing short-term solutions to figuring out how to make telemedicine part of their long-term plan.

The adoption of telehealth in the beginning of the pandemic led to an increase in Black patients' completion rates for follow-up visits after hospitalization, a study published Jan. 11 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found.

Health data has transformed healthcare and with the rise of telehealth, patient data is being acquired quickly, but healthcare facilities must balance healthcare data collection with patient privacy, Raconteur reported Jan. 19.