Telehealth: Short-Term Fad or Key to Improving Access to Affordable Healthcare?

While telehealth offerings have always held great promise, prior to 2020, their success was sometimes hindered by provider hesitation to adopt the technology, consumer reluctance to using virtual care, and a reimbursement methodology that did not value the investments required by providers or the positive impact on patients. 

That all changed practically overnight when COVID-19 struck.

Use of telehealth spiked to more than 32% of office and outpatient visits by April 2020, thanks in part to a relaxation of certain telehealth regulations designed to enable the continuation of care and minimize the spread of the virus by reducing unnecessary office visits during the public health emergency (PHE). These changes, albeit temporary, enabled providers and practices to test-drive telehealth offerings – and they quickly discovered that these digital technologies allowed them to connect with their patients more effectively and proactively. Now, nearly two-thirds of physicians view telehealth more favorably than they did pre-COVID and hope to continue offering virtual care.