Increasing access to care: telehealth during COVID-19

TLDR

The COVID‑19 pandemic has highlighted the value of telehealth while also exposing its challenges, offering a way for patients to receive care at home and reducing infection risk and hospital strain. The study argues that additional legal and regulatory actions are needed to fully realize telehealth’s benefits. The authors recommend that lawmakers focus on six key areas—reimbursement, privacy/cybersecurity, liability, licensure, technology access, and artificial intelligence—to guide these actions. Federal and state regulators have already rapidly revised laws to enable telehealth deployment, and these reforms are expected to yield lasting benefits beyond the pandemic.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency has amplified both the potential value and the challenges with healthcare providers deploying telehealth solutions. As people across the country find ways to stay at home, telehealth preserves an opportunity to obtain necessary healthcare services. Further, telehealth can help individuals avoid COVID-19 infection, free up hospital beds and other resources for those patients most in need, and prevent infected individuals from spreading that infection. Federal and state regulators have recognized this potential of telehealth and have quickly changed a variety of laws and regulations to enable healthcare providers to deploy solutions quickly. These changes can provide lasting benefits for the use of telehealth well after the current crisis. However, to best realize telehealth's benefits, further legal and regulatory actions are necessary. Specifically, lawmakers and regulators should focus on six areas: reimbursement, privacy/cybersecurity, liability, licensure, technology access, and artificial intelligence.