JAMA Network: Expansion of Telehealth Availability for Mental Health Care After State-Level Policy Changes From 2019 to 2022 A JAMA Network Open study by researchers from Harvard and the Rand Corporation found that the number of sites offering telehealth for mental health went from 39.4 percent in the second quarter of 2019 to 88.1 percent [...]
Health Affairs: Telehealth And Network Adequacy: A Recipe To Advance Access? Telehealth’s ability to address mobility, transportation, and geographic barriers has begun to transform the way individuals pursue care. Insured individuals’ access to care has historically been governed by a single tool: network adequacy standards. Authors propose that telehealth can augment network adequacy’s ability [...]
Minnesota Department of Health (MDH): MDH Study Shows Potential for More Accessible Health Care Through Telehealth A study by MDH highlights the potential for telehealth to make care more accessible while providing similar levels of service to traditional, in-person ways of delivering care. The report, which focus on Minnesotans with private health insurance coverage, [...]
University of Alabama at Birmingham: Telehealth's Growth During the Pandemic Expanded Mental Health Accessibility A study published in the Journal of Counseling & Development found that overall mental health care accessibility took a step forward during the pandemic due to telehealth. The study aimed to understand whether or not patients seeking mental health care services, like therapy or [...]
Annals of Family Medicine: The Telemedicine Experience in Primary Care Practices in the United States The need to rapidly implement telemedicine in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic was addressed differently by various practices. Using qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with primary care practice leaders, the researchers of this study identified four overarching themes, [...]
JAMA Health Forum: Overall and Telehealth Addiction Treatment Utilization by Age, Race, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status in California After COVID-19 Policy Changes This cohort study found that disparities in addiction treatment utilization were not exacerbated following expansion of telehealth during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers examined whether there were differences [...]
Health Services Research: State Medicaid and Private Telemedicine Coverage Requirements and Telemedicine Use Medicaid coverage of telehealth services between 2013 and 2019 was associated with significant increases in telehealth use and health care access. Medicaid telehealth coverage requirements were linked to a 6.01 percentage-point increase in the use of live video communication. Additionally, states with [...]
Journal of Medical Internet Research: Telemedicine Use by Age in Louisiana Medicaid During COVID-19 This claims-based longitudinal analysis found that Medicaid beneficiaries between the ages of 50 and 64 had higher telehealth claims during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to those aged 18 to 34. In April 2020, the 50 to 64 age group [...]
Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network: A Report on Patient Experience of Care In this retrospective study, researchers found that cancer patients who use telemedicine report better experiences than cancer patients treated in person. Researchers evaluated patients with solid tumors or hematologic malignancies who were treated at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. [...]
Healthcare Fraud Prevention Partnership: Exploring Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Within Telehealth The Healthcare Fraud Prevention Partnership (HFPP) released a white paper providing background on the use of telehealth services prior to and during the COVID-19 PHE. The purpose of the paper was to identify fraud schemes that take advantage of increased telehealth usage. The paper reviews [...]