Telehealth is also considered a convenience to many medical providers. For example, those located in more remote or rural areas are able to cast a wider net in potential patients. Of course, among the main reasons for the significant growth in the popularity of telehealth has been the adoption of government waivers that enabled more services to be delivered under more circumstances, also allowing for greater reimbursement potential. According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), telehealth “has been proven safe and effective, and both patients and clinicians report high satisfaction.” In addition, “prior concerns that telehealth would add utilization—and therefore cost—to the healthcare system have not been borne out.”
By the Numbers
Below are some telling statistics concerning telehealth as noted by a February AHA publication:
- Recent data from the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that while utilization of telehealth has declined since 2020, utilization remains higher than pre-pandemic levels. In the last quarter of 2023, over 12.6 percent of Medicare beneficiaries received a telehealth service.
- There is a growing body of evidence showing that telehealth does not result in additive or duplicative care. A study of over 35 million records by Epic found that, for most telehealth visits across 33 specialties, there was no need for an in-person follow-up visit within 90 days of the telehealth visit.
- Recent data suggest that the United States will face a physician shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036. Telehealth is a critical supporting element to address the growing shortage of physicians.
- Patients across geographies and settings, including both rural and urban areas, have benefited from the increased access and improved convenience provided by telehealth services since patients could receive care from their homes. In fact, data from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) showed that most patients using telehealth in 2020 (92 percent) received telehealth from their home.
- The availability of audio-only telehealth is a critical option to ensure access to care when patients may not have access to technology or bandwidth for video visits. A 2021 report from ASPE found that the majority of surveyed respondents 65 and older used audio-only visits (56.5 percent) compared to video visits, partly driven by the fact that over 26 percent of Medicare beneficiaries reported not having computer or smartphone access at home.
- The lack of broadband infrastructure exacerbates access challenges for certain areas. The Federal Communications Commission reports that over 22 percent of Americans in rural areas lack access to appropriate broadband (fixed terrestrial 25/3 Mbps) compared to 1.5 percent in urban areas.
- Misperceptions about telehealth contributing to fraud, waste and abuse are not supported by data. A recent Office of the Inspector General report found that only 0.2 percent of all telehealth providers were “potentially high-risk” for fraud, waste and abuse previously. Policies should support the 99.8 percent of providers safely and compliantly delivering services.
Waning of Waivers?
This is all great news; but, as the AHA quite rightly observes, “without congressional action, patients and providers may soon lose access to important telehealth services. The waivers that provided telehealth expansion are set to expire in March 2025.” Accordingly, the AHA has urged Congress to “make permanent the telehealth flexibilities granted during the pandemic.”
For a full list of current waivers that are set to expire, please click on the following link: Fact Sheet: Telehealth Waivers | AHA.
The AHA supports the permanent adoption of telehealth flexibilities and has urged Congress to lift geographic and originating site restrictions, allow Rural Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers to serve as distant sites, expand practitioners who can provide telehealth, remove arbitrary in-person visit requirements for behavioral health and allow the continuation of audio-only telehealth services. We will have to wait and see if the AHA’s lobbying efforts will have an impact on future legislation that will further these important telehealth goals.