For all the pain and harm COVID-19 has caused in the world, the one potential silver lining is it forced the door open for telehealth and remote health arrangements that until now consumers and providers had largely been hesitant to push on.
Today, Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) re‐introduced the Telehealth Modernization Act, which will codify and expand telehealth coverage for seniors in Medicare. This doesn't address the major obstacle that blocks patients from this great technological advance in 21st century medicine: state licensing laws prohibit patients from receiving care from health practitioners licensed out‐of‐state.
A federal government watchdog is sounding the alarm that Americans’ growing enthusiasm for telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic has led to a worrying parallel: a “dramatic increase” in telehealth-related fraud.
An anonymous writer in the Lancet pubication on Nov 29, 1879, referred to a physician who remotely managed a child with croup by telephone at midnight, thus avoiding an unnecessary visit. And so began the story of telehealth.
Telehealth has been one of the few sectors of health care that has benefitted from the pandemic, with lockdowns and restrictions forcing doctors and patients online. And while the spike in usage from last year has leveled off, there is still room for growth, according to Amwell (AMWL) chairman and co-CEO Dr. Ido Schoenberg. "Life will never be the same after this pandemic, in many ways, including health care," Schoenberg said.
The Morehouse School of Medicine will soon be able to help even more patients through virtual appointments. The school received a $1.1 million grant from the Truist Foundation to boost its telemedicine capabilities. "Last year, between February and March, we saw a 700 percent increase in telemedicine cases. Between March and April, we saw a 212 percent increase," said Dr. Bennie Harris, Senior Vice President of Institutional Advance at the Morehouse School of Medicine.