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The Vital Need To Extend Pandemic-Era Telemedicine Waivers
The pandemic catalyzed a shift in healthcare delivery, rapidly expanding telemedicine services to ensure patients could access essential care safely. While the pandemic has waned and public emergency declarations have ended, telemedicine waivers have survived, and it has become urgent to maintain them.To meet the needs of patients and providers during pandemic restrictions, Congress passed legislation allowing Medicare to cover telehealth services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took steps to improve access by issuing waivers that eased restrictions and broadened coverage criteria for telehealth and remote patient monitoring (RPM) services while also increasing reimbursement rates for virtual visits.
Medigy Insights
Telehealth has significantly expanded access to essential medical services across diverse demographics. A U.S. Census Bureau survey revealed that the highest rates of telehealth visits were among those covered by Medicaid and Medicare between 2021 and 2022. Telehealth use was also notably high among Black patients and those earning fewer than $25,000 a year. Although telehealth use was lower during the survey period compared to earlier in the pandemic, it remained above pre-pandemic levels.While telemedicine, a subset of telehealth, encompasses a spectrum of remote healthcare services including virtual consultations and visits, RPM entails the use of technologies such as wearable sensors for remote monitoring and management.
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