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The Use of Telehealth for Disability Evaluations in Medicine and Allied Health Proceedings of a Workshop (2022) / Chapter Skim
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3 Telehealth and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
Pages 13-20

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From page 13...
... . Anna Maria Lopez, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and Thomas Jefferson University, moderated the second session, which focused on trends and challenges in telehealth adoption in the context of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
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From page 14...
... Policies to facilitate telehealth use and reimbursement brought greater flexibility and allowed synchronous and asynchronous interactions between patients and clinicians to meet a variety of health needs, from triaging acute injuries to managing athome care of chronic conditions. She explained that in many cases, telehealth has been shown capable of reducing health care costs and time burdens.
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From page 15...
... . Samson explained that before the pandemic, Medicare policies restricted telehealth services to patients living in rural areas, covered a limited set of health care services, and required patients to attend virtual visits from a health care facility using interactive audiovisual technologies.
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From page 16...
... While the increase in telehealth use was not enough to offset the overall decrease in health care visits with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth did seem to play an important role in maintaining care access. Samson noted particularly marked telehealth adoption among people who were dually enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, people who were disabled, people living in urban areas, and those receiving behavioral health care.
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From page 17...
... She described how three main regulatory changes that are closely related to telehealth -- HIPAA flexibility, Medicare and Medicaid payment, and state licensing requirements -- could create significant challenges if they are reversed. Shachar echoed other speakers, noting that new flexibilities in HIPAA requirements improved care access by enabling the use of an expanded array of telehealth modalities, including popular platforms like Zoom and FaceTime.
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From page 18...
... , she noted that telehealth disparities can be mitigated through a mix of targeted communitybased advocacy and nationwide structural changes to policies and technology access to deliver health care across a wide range of modalities and entities.
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From page 19...
... Mei Kwong, Center for Connected Health Policy, commented that prior to the pandemic, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursed telehealth and in-person services at the same rate, although it depended on which services were used and in what state. She said that since the pandemic, more state laws are requiring payment parity for video visits, but audio-only payment parity remains unresolved.
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Key Terms

  • payment parity
  • care access
  • telehealth policies
  • wong samson
  • medicare policies

  • lok wong
  • health insurance
  • telehealth services
  • telehealth adoption
  • access telehealth

  • maintaining care
  • state licensing
  • primarily spoke
  • carmel shachar
  • licensing requirements

  • screen time
  • increased screen
  • shachar explained
  • regulatory changes
  • internet access

  • chronic conditions
  • samson noted
  • community health
  • health offers
  • addressing health

  • health inequities
  • health law
  • reducing health
  • health centers
  • connected health


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