Telehealth Snapshot: Use Cases, Policies & Hybrid Care

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, telehealth use skyrocketed, helping providers deliver quality healthcare when in-person services stalled. Though telehealth use has leveled off over the past year, providers and payers see the modality as a key part of care delivery moving forward.

Speakers at Xtelligent Healthcare Media's Telehealth22 Virtual Summit, held in March, discussed a wide range of issues related to telehealth, including how telehealth can help improve chronic disease patient outcomes, the barriers standing in the way to patient access and provider adoption, the hybrid care model that is being developed, and the current regulatory landscape governing telehealth use.

Telehealth has shown significant potential in improving chronic disease management as it enables clinicians to keep track of health metrics beyond in-person visits.

"We have seen a lot of examples where organizations are thinking about how they can use telehealth to really do even better in their care quality than they were doing before the pandemic," said Kate Kirley, MD, director of chronic disease prevention and programs at the American Medical Association, during a panel discussion. "They're looking for new opportunities. They're not just thinking about this as implementing in-person care virtually."