This paper by Devin A. Stone, Jennifer A. Ohn, Luis Arzaluz and Mara B. McDermott analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on telehealth utilization among Medicare beneficiaries and the telehealth policy implications.
During the pandemic, telehealth provided Medicare patients access to care and helped minimize their exposure to COVID-19. Post pandemic, telehealth has the potential to provide a promising pathway to achieve improved and equitable access to care, and to help mitigate the current healthcare workforce shortage. Based on analysis of U.S. government Medicare administrative claims data documenting telehealth utilization among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, as well as American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census on broadband access in counties nationwide, our team concludes that Congress should consider proposals to extend telehealth flexibilities beyond the pandemic public health emergency.
