Telehealth

The use of telehealth grew over the course of the pandemic, alerting healthcare providers to the benefits of the medical strategy. However, its future may rely on whether lawmakers decide to extend emergency measures introduced throughout the pandemic, PBS reported…

Eliminating or reducing reimbursement for physicians' five- to 10-minute calls with patients could mean Americans receiving fewer check-ins from their providers, Kaiser Health News reported Dec. 8.

Sixteen leading healthcare organizations have partnered to launch Telehealth Access for America, a public education campaign to defend telehealth access.

Here are seven notable findings about Americans' telehealth use, pulled from telehealth studies Becker's has covered in 2021.

Medicare saw a 14 percent dip in anticipated payments to physicians in 2020, but telehealth simultaneously stepped into the limelight to make up a larger share of Medicare spending, according to an American Medical Association analysis. 

National telehealth use grew 2 percent from August to September, making up 4.4 percent of all medical claim lines, according to a Fair Health report. 

With relaxed regulations during the pandemic, Medicare telehealth visits increased 63-fold in 2020, from 840,000 in 2019 to 52.7 million, according to a Dec. 3 HHS report. 

States would be rejecting a significant opportunity to improve healthcare delivery if they discontinue the telehealth policy relaxations enacted during the pandemic, Naomi Lopez, director of healthcare policy at the Goldwater Institute, wrote in a Dec. 2 op-ed for The…

Most Americans view telehealth as playing a role in the future of medical care. However, the majority still prefer an in-person visit over a virtual one, according to a study published Dec. 1 in JAMA Network Open.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Institute for Digital Health & Innovation is expanding its virtual health push by launching five telehealth training centers across Arkansas and Tennessee, it announced Nov. 30.