Telehealth popular in rural U.S. during pandemic; states pass laws to continue access and maybe make it permanent

Telehealth has been a boon to rural areas during the pandemic, "but its future depends largely on whether state lawmakers extend emergency measures that made telehealth a viable alternative for patients and providers wary of in-person contact," Michael Ollove reports for Stateline. "The most important changes most states made were to expand Medicaid coverage to different types of virtual appointments and to enact telehealth coverage requirements for private insurers."

Before the pandemic, 43% of providers used telehealth; that jumped to 98% early in the pandemic. Telehealth visits increased by up to 40%, and remain 30% higher than before, Ollove reports.

Telehealth has proved so popular that at least half the states "already have extended temporary telehealth measures that were set to expire with the lifting of public-health emergencies, and other states are considering doing the same," Ollove reports. More than 1,000 telehealth bills are pending in state legislatures, many of which would mandate that insurers cover telehealth and/or expand the number of telehealth services covered. Those bills generally apply only to individual or non-employer-funded plans, since the federal government regulates employer-funded plans.

It's unclear whether patients will continue to prefer telehealth after the pandemic, and broadband connectivity and computer literacy are still significant barriers to use. But providers say the service has helped them stretch staff resources and better care for patients, Ollove reports.