CHOICES - TeleHealth
There has been a sharp increase in people with Medicare using telehealth as beneficiaries and providers have tried to avoid in-person visits for better safety during the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, most people with Medicare could not receive telehealth services in their homes, due to restrictions on telehealth services in the Medicare benefits. This changed earlier this year when Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid waived some of the restrictions that prevented access for many beneficiaries. The intention was to ensure older adults had access to health care while social distancing.
As a result, use of telemedicine increased dramatically. More than 1.5 million seniors and people with disabilities used their Medicare benefits in telemedicine visits with their doctors since the pandemic began. These numbers indicate that there is great potential for use of telemedicine as a means to improve access to health care for millions of people. To their surprise many people who previously declined telemedicine visits, when faced with social- distancing tried it, and found they preferred it.
Telemedicine reduces the need for transportation considerations, reduces wait times in doctors’ offices and often eliminates the need for a caregiver to accompany the patient to the doctors’ offices. Early study also reveals it has the potential to reduce racial disparities in access to care.
Telemedicine can extend access to care for people with Medicare, and clearly has some advantages over in-office visits, however, we must be thoughtful and cautious in our expansion of telemedicine as the preferred method of health care delivery. As with all new ideas there can be unintended consequences. Remain alert to proposed changes to Medicare rules about telemedicine. Time and study is needed to ensure the new method does not have unintended consequences that will create more problems than it solves.
