Telehealth – Where are We One Year After the Public Health Emergency?

Among the plethora of changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the rapid adoption of telehealth has changed how Americans are receiving and want to receive their health care. As we now know, it took a pandemic to cut through the regulatory red tape, reimbursement challenges and implementation hurdles and make telehealth readily available to the American public. It did not take long for most everyone to realize that telehealth — in some capacity — is here to stay.

Despite the increased demand for telehealth services, the patchwork of state and federal regulations governing the provision of these services is unsettled. Colorado quickly made permanent some of the temporary measures that enabled the rapid implementation of telehealth. Other states have not done so, meaning critical issues like interstate licensing and payment parity remain in flux. And, at the federal level, the temporary waivers of certain statutes and regulations are set to expire along with the public health emergency (PHE) on April 20. On top of this precarious legal landscape, the federal government is reminding providers that significant oversight of telehealth is coming.

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