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Healthcare providers have aggressively climbed onto the virtual care bandwagon since last March, conducting half or more of their patient visits by phone or computer. From mid-March to mid-October, nearly 40% of Medicare beneficiaries received a covered telemedicine service.
Now, with barely a year's worth of experience and few studies to rate outcomes, researchers are asking if virtual care standards -- whatever they are -- and patient access to telehealth platforms are good enough. The question will be particularly relevant if payers continue reimbursing at in-person visit rates after the pandemic subsides, as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said it was considering in August.