Читать книгу Do No Harm - Matthew Webster - Страница 16

COVID-19 has only accelerated some of the existing trends in the market. For example, prior to the pandemic, telehealth utilization for Medicare patients was roughly 0.1%. By April 2020, visits were up to 43.5%. Some of the changes were due to relaxing the regulations around telemedicine—partially in response to consumer demand.¹⁸ The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) made some significant changes. Since then, it has added some 135 services to be permitted via telehealth.¹⁹ What is more eye-opening is that doctors can treat patients by phone or radio.²⁰

What sometimes goes hand-in-hand with telehealth is the need for in-home testing. It helps to limit exposure from people who may have COVID-19 and in some cases lower transportation costs for hospitals that may previously been inclined to move the patient for testing purposes. Many healthcare organizations were offering this as a service, but the trend has been accelerated by the pandemic.²¹