Is Telehealth Too Expensive To Keep?

That’s the question Congress is asking these days.

While health care interests and consumers are almost unanimous in their enthusiasm for telehealth, Congress is questioning whether telehealth is too expensive to preserve after the threat of COVID-19 passes.

Prior to the pandemic, Medicare mostly limited the use of telehealth to rural areas where access to providers is limited.  Once the public health emergency became serious Medicare waived many of its limits on the use of telehealth so that elderly patients could stay in touch with their doctors.  On the whole, patients have viewed telehealth favorably and providers are very enthusiastic about it.

But Congress?  Congress worries that increased post-COVID use of telehealth could drive up health care costs while also being susceptible to fraud and abuse.  As a result, it is considering possible legislation with different approaches to future use of telehealth in Medicare after the waivers expire.

Learn more about the telehealth challenges Congress is considering and the options it is weighing in the Roll Call article “Medicare cost crunch raises questions in telehealth debate.”