The lessons learned in applying telehealth and mHealth to a pandemic will help health systems and hospitals shape their connected health strategies far beyond this crisis.

It’s been said, rightly and tragically so, that it took a pandemic to prove the value of telehealth to the American healthcare system.

As health systems and hospitals adjust their workflows to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, they’re learning some valuable lessons on how to best use connected health technology. With in-person care reduced to emergencies and an emphasis on keeping patients and providers separated, they’re using telemedicine platforms and mHealth devices – including the telephone – to deliver care.

And they’re planning beyond the COVID-19 crisis, with telehealth front and center.

EXPANDING – TEMPORARILY – THE TELEHEALTH PLAYING FIELD

At the onset of the pandemic, state and federal regulators moved quickly to reduce the barriers to telehealth adoption, understanding that these new tools could speed access to care while protecting healthcare workers.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched several emergency initiatives that expanded Medicare and Medicaid coverage, including increasing the types of providers able to use telehealth, allowing providers more freedom to use different modalities – such as remote patient monitoring and phone-based services – and expanding the number of sites qualifying for coverage to include homes, federally qualified health centers, and rural clinics.

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