key: cord-0807185-rqxbcdmm
authors: Wang, C. Jason; Car, Josip; Zuckerman, Barry S.
title: The Power of Telehealth Has Been Unleashed
date: 2020-06-19
journal: Pediatr Clin North Am
DOI: 10.1016/j.pcl.2020.05.001
sha: e3a58cf42f168f88b56cfef3c4ae68d046c879e3
doc_id: 807185
cord_uid: rqxbcdmm

nan

Since the authors submitted their articles for this special issue of Pediatric Clinics of North America devoted to Telehealth for Pediatricians, the world has changed. The human race has been attacked by the most serious viral pandemic of our generation, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 posed an unprecedented challenge to health delivery systems everywhere. As face-to-face clinic visits are no longer desirable due to the risk of catching the virus, COVID-19 has inadvertently aided the adoption of telehealth. The US Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act passed by the US Congress has provisions to provide health care resources needed to fight COVID-19. 1 On April 23, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also released a tool kit for states to accelerate the adoption of telehealth in its Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Programs. The tool kit can facilitate the identification of barriers to deployment in areas such as populations eligible for telehealth, coverage and reimbursement policies, providers and practitioners eligible to provide telehealth, technology requirements, and pediatric considerations. 2 In addition, CMS and the federal government have relaxed many previous restrictions on the use of telemedicine for Medicare to allow physicians to utilize telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. 1 Among them are key changes to Medicare telehealth payment policies to allow the same rate as in-office visits for all diagnoses; reduction or waiver of cost-sharing for telehealth visits and remote monitoring services, as well as code selection based on physician time spent on the date of visit or on medical decision making. Medicare also expanded access to telehealth to allow all settings (eg, home); both new and established patients; and consent for services at any time and has removed frequency limitations of Medicare telehealth services. Physicians can provide services from their homes; physicians licensed from 1 state can provide services in another state, but state licensure laws still apply. States also now have broader

CARES Act: AMA COVID-19 pandemic telehealth fact sheet. 2020. Available at

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