From relaxed federal regulations to expanded insurance coverage, the COVID-19 pandemic has driven several changes for clinicians providing telehealth services.

The Trump administration on April 23 released a toolkit that offers resources and guidance to help states expand telehealth coverage policies for Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a drop in patient volumes and technical issues arising with telehealth, some healthcare providers are struggling to get paid for virtual visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Forty-eight percent of physicians are using telemedicine technology to continue treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent Merritt Hawkins report.

Congress and CMS have introduced changes to rural health clinic and federally qualified health center requirements and payments to ensure patients have access to services they need during the pandemic.

Amwell has launched a telehealth services platform aimed at smaller physician practices. In a news release, company CEO Roy Schoenberg said the platform focuses on assisting community-based care when physician offices "are closed, or their on-site services are deeply limited." 

While CMS has relaxed telehealth regulations to expand care during the COVID-19 pandemic, the action may result in a spike in billing fraud, according to an April 22 Kaiser Health News report. 

The Federal Communications Commission approved its second wave of COVID-19 telehealth program applications, funneling $3.7 million to providers including NYU Langone Health and University of Michigan Hospital. 

As physicians maneuver the transition to virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic, they can still exhibit empathy toward their patients by adopting verbal and nonverbal habits.

Solutionreach, the leader in patient engagement and innovation in healthcare, announced the release of its SR Telehealth solution to help providers remain HIPAA-compliant while streamlining the process of virtual visits from scheduling through the encounter.

Cleveland Clinic released its COVID-19 Digital Health Playbook, including a guide for healthcare organizations to rapidly scale their telehealth offerings.

Dallas-based Medical City Healthcare has deployed more than 650 tech devices to expand telehealth visits across its network, conserve personal protective equipment and curb the spread of COVID-19.

The coronavirus response has boosted telehealth use considerably, and many investors are banking on telehealth as the way of the future.

The Federal Communications Commission approved six funding applications totaling more than $3 million to providers, including Mount Sinai Health System, UPMC and Ochsner Clinic Foundation, through its new COVID-19 telehealth program. 

To help expand access to care during the COVID-19 pandemic, several insurance companies have loosened restrictions on telehealth claims for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related care.

Humana recently expanded access to more than 150 telehealth and other virtual services such as virtual check-ins, e-visits and telephone evaluations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even before the CDC recommended that healthcare entities consider alternatives to face-to-face appointments and made it easier to bill for telehealth visits, our hospital planned to explore the technology in 2020.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announced on April 13 that it has processed 180,000 telehealth claims since expanding coverage for virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As an emergency medicine physician, Hazar Khidir, MD, was used to only seeing patients once. However, with the uncertainties of COVID-19, Dr. Khidir has begun calling his former patients to check how they are doing, he wrote in an op-ed for WBUR.

The Michigan Health Endowment Fund is gifting $2.95 million to various healthcare providers in the state to boost telehealth services, according to NBC 25 News.