There’s a new mantra for medical care.
“Telehealth is here to stay,” providers and hospital administrators repeatedly said last week during a webinar presenting qualitative research on telehealth in Kansas.
The research, gathered by the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund and REACH Healthcare Foundation, found that 86% of Kansans support expanding or maintaining telehealth access after the pandemic ends.
Telehealth allows a patient to take an appointment from their home, via video or even telephone call. It was crucial during the pandemic as folks sought to minimize exposure to COVID-19. But in the past three years, providers and patients have found telehealth to be useful outside of times of medical crisis and a global pandemic.
Even as today’s public health emergencies fade, health care experts and providers are pushing for telehealth policies that will allow folks to continue accessing quality care.
Expanded Use
David Jordan, president and CEO of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, said before the start of the pandemic, 11% of Americans had used telehealth.
The American Psychiatric Association found that number to be much higher, almost 40%, in May of 2021.
Jordan explained that telehealth could be used on a much larger scale due to policy changes implemented during public health emergencies.
These changes allowed patients and providers to take telehealth calls from home, on their own devices, sometimes over the phone (versus video call) and made sure providers were compensated at the same rates for in-person and telehealth appointments.
“This change made it very favorable to make it easier for both patients and providers to deliver, and access, health care via telehealth,” Jordan said.