Maintaining Flexible Telehealth Policies After COVID-19

COVID-19 heightened the demand for telehealth visits, which led federal agencies, states, and private payers to increase the flexibility they gave to provider practices and payments. Now, many providers want to make these practices permanent, but doing so requires legislative and regulatory action. To help federal policymakers organize their thinking around this complex set of issues, we reviewed the websites of 24 organizations representing providers, payers, patient advocates, and national-level health information technology organizations. We uncovered several key topics for policymakers to consider as they address Medicare telehealth policy through legislation, regulation, or both.