Pandemic made telehealth necessary and easier to get, and 'We are never going back' to the way it was, surgeon says - Entrepreneur Generations

Rural Health Information Hub graphic

The coronavirus pandemic made telehealth necessary, and much easier to get, and its uptick will continue long after the crisis is over, federal officials predicted in a Rural Health Information Hub webinar Tuesday, covered by Melissa Patrick of Kentucky Health News.

"I can tell you from personal experience that we are never going back," said Dr. Jeff Colyer, a surgeon who chairs the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services. "I've seen the majority of my patients via telehealth, and they like the convenience and the access that it gives them. And so we are going to see those changes continue on in the future."

Bette Brand, deputy undersecretary for Rural Development in the Department of Agriculture, said, "The coronavirus has made the need for telehealth even more urgent. Its life-saving convenience is now underscored by its lifesaving ability to limit travel and unnecessary exposure."

Deputy USDA Secretary Stephen Censky pointed to a USDA summary of recent changes in telehealth policy by the Department of Health and Human Services. Deputy HHS Secretary Eric Hargan called the changes "historic" and said they include, among other things, eliminating some barriers to Medicare reimbursement, enabling waivers or reductions of cost sharing, and allowing the use of everyday technologies, like FaceTime and Skype, in health care.

"In just about a month and a half, I think we've seen about seven or eight years worth of progress on telehealth," Hargan said. "Really, it's a revolution provoked by necessity. I'm excited to see what the future looks like based on getting patients and providers acclimated to the idea of telehealth in this way," he said. "What sounds to many like dry, obscure flexibilities in regulations and reimbursement is translating into millions of Americans getting access to healthcare more safely."

Tom Morris, associate HHS administrator for rural health, said the use of telehealth resource centers is "well more than 1,000 percent of this time a year ago."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2T0S9of Pandemic made telehealth necessary and easier to get, and 'We are never going back' to the way it was, surgeon says - Entrepreneur Generations

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