Telehealth and telemedicine advocacy
Expanding virtual care
Telehealth can enhance the physician-patient relationship, increase access to care, improve health outcomes by enabling timely care interventions and decrease costs when utilized as a component of—and coordinated with—continuous care.
Defining telehealth and its role in health care
Telemedicine is the use of medical information that is exchanged from one site to another through electronic communications. It includes varying types of processes and services intended to enrich the delivery of medical care and improve the health status of patients. Closely associated with telemedicine is the term "telehealth," which can encompass a broader definition of remote health care that does not always involve clinical services.
Telehealth’s impact on family medicine
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that enabling physicians to virtually care for their patients at home not only reduces patients' and clinicians' risk of exposure and infection but also increases access and convenience for patients, particularly those who may be homebound.
More than 80% of family physicians began offering virtual visits during COVID-19
Nearly 70% would like to provide more virtual care in the future
When it comes to telehealth, patients prefer to use telemedicine with their own doctor, with whom they have an established relationship.
Telehealth can enhance the patient-physician relationship, increase access to care, improve health outcomes and decrease costs when utilized as a component of, and coordinated with, continuous care.
Improving patient outcomes with remote care
Telehealth can enhance the physician-patient relationship, increase access to care, improve health outcomes by enabling timely care interventions and decrease costs when utilized as a component of—and coordinated with—continuous care. Telehealth services allow patients and families to maintain access to their usual source of primary care. This helped ensure care continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Telehealth visits can also enable physicians to get to know their patients by observing them in their home environment, which can contribute to more personalized treatment plans and better referrals to community-based services.
The AAFP's advocacy for telehealth expansion
The AAFP supports the permanent expansion of access to telehealth while protecting the physician-patient relationship and promoting high-quality continuous care. Therefore, the Academy advocates for the increased standardization of reimbursement policy among payers and for the close monitoring of outcomes to ensure that broadened telehealth and telemedicine protocols don’t lead to wider health disparities among populations that have been made vulnerable.
Six solutions to preserve telehealth beyond COVID-19
Design telehealth benefits to strengthen the patient-physician relationship rather than disrupt it.
Ensure Congress urges CMS to permanently cover audio-only telephone E/M visits in addition to virtual check-ins.
Standardize coverage and reimbursement across all payers to ensure physicians continue providing virtual care to their patients.
Ensure payers cover telehealth services provided by any in-network provider.
Ensure access to critical primary care and mental health services via telehealth.
Invest in infrastructure to promote digital health equity.
Recent AAFP communications
Joint communications with other organizations
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