Research points to telehealth adoption among consumers at 46%, up from 11% in 2019. Now that we are in a second surge of the COVID-19 virus, I would expect to see these numbers rise even more.

The year 2020 has seen a sharp rise in telehealth services stemming, in part, from cancelled or deferred elective procedures, office visits, and outpatient tests due to COVID-19.

Seattle-based UW Medicine rolled out a new on-demand virtual care program that lets patients receive medical care via text message consults with physicians, according to a Dec. 9 news release. 

Englewood (N.J.) Health became the first health system to participate in a new virtual training program for clinicians using professional actors to simulate real patient encounters in which they have to deliver negative news over video chat. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, U.S. providers have transitioned one-third or more of their in-person care to telemedicine, signaling a shift in the patient experience and consumer expectations for convenience of care, according to Jessica Dudley, MD, and Iyue Sung. 

The Federal Communications Commission awarded $9.2 billion Dec. 7 to fund the development of high-speed broadband networks for more than 10 million rural Americans across the country.

Stony Brook (N.Y.) Medicine will use a $966,026 award from the FCC's COVID-19 Telehealth Program to provide digital devices and remote monitoring equipment to individuals in need to participate in virtual care visits.

The Massachusetts Association of Health Plans is sponsoring an 18-month study to examine how access to telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic has varied based on race, ethnicity and socioeconomic factors, according to a Dec. 2 news release.

HHS will continue to allow clinicians to provide telehealth services across state lines for covered services, including diagnostic tests, to fight the spread of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth at many U.S. hospitals and prompted temporary federal regulatory changes that allowed organizations greater flexibility in this area.

Across the U.S., telehealth claim lines fell 16.5 percent from 6.07 percent in August to 5.07 percent in September, according to data released Dec. 1 from healthcare cost data organization Fair Health.

CMS released the 2021 physician fee schedule Dec. 1 with expanded telehealth services, remote physiologic monitoring updates and an extension for telecommunications tech supervision.

CMS released the 2021 physician fee schedule Dec. 1 with expanded telehealth services.

The shift to a greater use of telemedicine during the pandemic presents a new opportunity to reduce reliance on, and subsequent overcrowding in, emergency rooms, according to Austin Frakt, PhD.

While telehealth adoption has allowed clinical care to safely continue during the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual visits have presented some unintended consequences for patients and clinicians, according to Lisa Rotenstein, MD, and Lawrence Friedman, MD.

Cleveland Clinic and Amwell appointed new leadership to their year-old joint venture focused on scaling digital care and telehealth.

The lack of access to technology and broadband internet are the most frequently cited barriers that physicians perceive as preventing their patients from participating in telehealth, according to the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition.

Amwell posted $62.6 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2020, up 80 percent from $34.7 million during the same time last year. 

Amwell unveiled new telehealth connectivity, device and cart offerings Nov. 12 to help simplify  patient onboarding for providers using virtual care. 

Ignis Health, an analytics platform that measures virtual care program efficiency, recently licensed a telehealth implementation model roadmap from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.