The New Challenges For Major Elements For immediate care

Telehealth is a rare good thing to come from the pandemic. Let’s make it permanent: Sally C. Pipes

Telehealth proved popular among patients and physicians. Permanently lifting those restrictions -- as many state and federal lawmakers are now trying to do -- would increase Americans’ access to health care and lower costs without sacrificing the quality.In March 2020, Congress permitted the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to loosen federal restrictions on telehealth and expand patient access to care.

These expansions included waiving the requirement that patients travel to a care site to use telehealth, allowing patients to receive services wherever they are. HHS also expanded the types of devices permitted for telehealth use to include phones, laptops, and platforms such as Skype or FaceTime.

The use of telehealth skyrocketed. A study of 36 million patients found that telehealth visits accounted for a quarter of all medical visits during the first four months of the pandemic, compared to just 0.3% of visits over that same period in 2019.

https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2021/07/telehealth-is-a-rare-good-thing-to-come-from-the-pandemic-lets-make-it-permanent-sally-c-pipes.html