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This brief outlines how telemedicine is currently used in obstetrical care, how these services are financed and regulated, and reviews federal efforts to expand the use of telemedicine, particularly to address maternal health disparities.
A new KFF survey of obstetrician-gynecologists (OBGYNs) offers insight into how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the provision of sexual and reproductive health care, including the growth of telehealth and the ongoing challenges and limitations of such medical visits.
This post looks at a new contactless method of providing medication abortions and now this can be and has been used in response to the pandemic. The post also examines state policies that act as barriers to implementing these new protocols.
As the coronavirus pandemic kept people home last year, just over 1 in 4 Medicare beneficiaries had a telehealth visit with a doctor or other health professional between the summer and fall of 2020, a new KFF analysis finds.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government declared numerous types of emergencies, Congress enacted several pieces of legislation, and various executive actions were taken and waivers issued, which established time-limited flexibilities and provisions designed to protect individuals and the health system during the pandemic. This resource provides a timeline identifying key health-related flexibilities and provisions specified by these various measures, the specific measure that determines their end date, and their end date.
This analysis of 2021 claims data finds that while telehealth use remained high in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift toward virtual physician and mental health care did not materially affect how much insurers paid for each patient encounter.
On Tuesday, March 22, expert panelists with diverse perspectives joined series moderator Larry Levitt in a 45-minute discussion exploring future directions for telehealth policy, including challenges facing its expanded use, impact on patient care and effects on the U.S. health care system.This was the first in KFF’s new virtual conversation series, The Health Wonk Shop, which dives into timely health policy issues with experts for a deeper discussion beyond the news headlines, taking questions from viewers over Zoom.
Congress has repeatedly extended several pandemic-era flexibilities around Medicare coverage of telehealth, but with a few key exceptions most pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities remain temporary. This brief provides answers to key questions about the current scope of Medicare telehealth coverage, including both temporary and permanent changes adopted through legislation and regulation, and policy considerations that lie ahead.
This brief highlights key facts about Medicare beneficiaries living in rural areas, including their demographic and health characteristics, access to care, and satisfaction with care.
This issue brief provides a deeper look at telecontraception platforms, offering insights into the practices of 13 different companies that have attempted to make contraception more accessible outside of a clinical setting.
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