The telehealth experience has been more nuanced than the commonly held belief that the pandemic seamlessly ushered in its wide and successful use. But telemedicine's appropriate role in patient care is not clearly established yet.
To the surprise of many, the transition to wide-scale adaptation of telehealth and videoconferencing visits has worked well. Healthcare organizations have been able to provide safe and arguably more efficient and cost-effective care to patients in their homes.
Cigna’s Evernorth healthcare services business will buy MDLive, a fast-growing provider of telehealth services that have taken off during the Covid-19 pandemic. The deal announced Friday brings in-house a service that until now has largely been something that health insurers have paid for via contract, but Cigna sees MDLive and its round-the-clock telehealth delivery platform as critical to the Evernorth healthcare services portfolio the insurer launched in September of last year.
NuggMD officially launched its Virginia operations February 22. The company, via its telehealth portal, connects patients with doctors who will evaluate them and recommend medical marijuana in a virtual appointment.