Fad or Future? Telehealth Expansion Eyed Beyond Pandemic

Efforts are underway to graduate telemedicine from a temporary solution during the COVID-19 crisis to a permanent option after the pandemic, reports the Associated Press . A permanent expansion will entail balancing costs with quality, addressing privacy concerns and potential fraud, and working out how telehealth can reach marginalized recipients. At the pandemic shutdown's peak, telehealth comprised more than 40 percent of primary care visits for traditional Medicare beneficiaries, up from just 0.1 percent before the emergency. A University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation survey found more than 70 percent of older adults are interested in using telehealth for follow-ups with their doctor, and nearly two out of three feel comfortable with videoconferences. Yet 27 percent of respondents who had not had a telemedicine visit were concerned about privacy, versus 17 percent of those who had. While many private insurance plans offer a degree of telehealth coverage, traditional Medicare has limited it to rural residents. University of Michigan health policy expert Mark Fendrick says Medicare should determine what telehealth services add value for people's health and taxpayers' wallets, and pay only for those.