The Biden administration has launched a telehealth pilot program that will test and treat patients for COVID-19 from their homes.

Samsung is looking to connect clinicians and patients through TVs with the Samsung Telemedicine app, CNET reported Jan. 3.

UNC Health, based in Chapel Hill, is a not-for-profit integrated health care system owned by the state of North Carolina.

Resilience Lab, a New York City-based startup that matches clients with remote therapists, could become the first telehealth company to unionize after employees petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to join DC 37, the Gothamist reported Dec. 29.

Bart Stupak, a former U.S. representative serving Northern Michigan, is lobbying to let online telehealth startups continue to prescribe controlled substances, Bloomberg reported Dec. 27.

BioTelemetry, now a Royal Phillips company, agreed to pay $44.875 million to settle allegations that the company improperly billed Medicare by outsourcing heart monitoring services to India between 2013 and 2022. 

The COVID-19 pandemic revolutionized telehealth, and many patients continue to seek out COVID-19 care from the comfort of their own homes.

Becker's has reported on three hospitals or health systems implementing telehealth programs since Dec. 7:

Only 15 percent of patients who were eligible for Medicare fee-for-service telehealth used the service in the second quarter of 2022, according to a Dec. 15 telehealth utilization report from CMS.

Mental health disorders are not isolated — they have far-reaching effects that drive up costs for both patients and providers.

Two House members said that congress is trying to expand Medicare's virtual flexibilities beyond the public health emergency, NextGov reported Dec. 14. 

Telehealth reduces primary care spending, as telehealth utilization has been associated with lower emergency department utilization and inpatient hospitalizations, according to a Dec. 13 study editorial published in Nature.

Most patients who had a telehealth visit didn't require an in-person follow-up appointment in the next three months, according to a Dec. 13 study from Epic Research. 

Only 11 percent of hospitals and 8 percent of practices said they are looking to expand their telehealth offerings in 2023, according to a Dec. 14 telehealth report from national healthcare consultancy firm Sage Growth Partners.

Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System has partnered with musculoskeletal digital health company IncludeHealth to offer patients virtual physical therapy in their homes.

Telehealth startups offering private, on-demand virtual care have been sharing some of the sensitive information gathered during a patient's intake and checkout process with big tech companies, TheMarkup reported Dec. 13. 

UNC Health System's integrative medicine clinic has expanded, allowing patients to conduct their visits either in-person or via telemedicine. 

Telehealth company Ro has tapped Gia Lee, former deputy general counsel at HHS, as the company's new legal chief, Bloomberg Law reported Dec. 9.

Becker's has covered three health systems and hospitals implementing new telehealth programs since Nov. 22: 

COVID-19 fell from the second to third most common telehealth diagnosis, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.