Telemedicine is rehospitalized

Saturday, October 15th, 2022

Before Covid, telehealth accounted for less than 1% of outpatient care. Then it shot up — to as high as 40% of outpatient visits for mental health and substance use. Now telemedicine is declining:

Over the past year, nearly 40 states and Washington, D.C., have ended emergency declarations that made it easier for doctors to use video visits to see patients in another state, according to the Alliance for Connected Care, which advocates for telemedicine use.

Alex Tabarrok knows people who have had to travel over the Virginia–Maryland border just to find a wifi spot to have a telemedicine appointment with their Maryland physician.

Comments

  1. Bruce says:

    My one experience with telemedicine was a huge step up from hours sitting in the ER or waiting room.

  2. TRX says:

    Which brings to mind something I noticed recently — the local restaurants that stayed open during the Coof lockdowns all went to takeout-only or drive-through service when the state prohibited them from seating people in the dining room. But that order expired long ago.

    I get around painfully with a cane, so I welcomed drive-through service. But almost every place that used to offer that has closed their drive-up window and is now indoor-only.

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