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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.