Telehealth’s Not Getting Switched Off After COVID-19 Crisis
The coronavirus pandemic has forced the federal government to lift barriers to telemedicine so patients can get care without leaving home. Those regulatory changes may be temporary, but experts say telehealth is here to stay, according to a Law 360 report.
As the novel coronavirus continues its deadly march across the country, patients have been able to monitor their health without setting foot in a medical office or hospital through an unprecedented regulatory revamp of telehealth at the federal and state levels. In normal times, Medicare only pays clinicians for telehealth services like routine visits, requires patients to travel to designated sites to obtain virtual care and imposes limits on what communication devices can be used, but the stroke of the president’s pen tossed all of those obstacles aside and provided a glimpse into what the future of telehealth could look like.