I often ask my informatics and innovation students to take a guess as to when telehealth was first conceptualized for use. They are often surprised to hear me say that the concept emerged in the 1960’s (60 years ago). Now while we did not have the capabilities for such operationalization of telehealth care at that time, we did have that capability long before March 2020.

The tipping point to integrate telehealth technology services into care delivery was the Covid-19 pandemic and the need to be able to provide care to patients in a safe way that would not put people at risk for contracting Covid (to the extent possible – not all appointments could be televisits).

Prior to March 6th. 2020, telehealth services were not a service that was reimbursable for most visits. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the largest payer of healthcare services in the United States, granted the ability for providers to be reimbursed for telehealth services (temporarily) across the US. This provision opened the opportunity to leverage the technology available, develop new processes and support people with their healthcare needs.

“Prior to this announcement, Medicare was only allowed to pay clinicians for telehealth services such as routine visits in certain circumstances. For example, the beneficiary receiving the services must live in a rural area and travel to a local medical facility to get telehealth services from a doctor in a remote location. In addition, the beneficiary would generally not be allowed to receive telehealth services in their home.” (CMS.gov)

I’ve long advocated for the opportunity of telehealth to address visit types that may lead to missed appointments or access to care issues. Just this week I had a telehealth follow up visit. I scheduled it at the end of the day and was able to log off of my meeting to log on to my appointment without any need for travel, parking, rearranging my schedule and more. The visit did not require any labs, tests, auscultation or vitals. Therefore, this was an optimal use of telehealth.

Other use cases I often think about

• individuals who perhaps do not have an effective and/or efficient transportation means for follow up or consult visits,
• individuals who do not have the funds for parking, or cannot take an afternoon off for such a visit,
• individuals seeking mental health services who may be too depressed to leave their home and make an in person appointment.
• individuals in areas where the specialist is in network but not local to the patient

These are just a few use cases where telehealth has likely eased some pressures of patients seeking to access care where being in person was not a necessity. Access to care is essential for optimal outcomes. As we navigate forward toward a post-pandemic healthcare environment, the initial unmet need faced in March 2020 will have changed but this does not mean that there will not be a need to continue to offer such services.

Providing quality care requires patient-centered approaches. Why not continue to make it accessible to receive care?