News

While President Trump’s reconciliation package did reinstate first-dollar coverage for HDHP-HSAs, a collection of waivers aimed at boosting coverage for and use of telehealth didn’t make the cut.

The Alliance for Connected Care, the American Telemedicine Association and numerous other organizations sent a letter to the DEA urging action to safeguard remote prescribing of controlled substances.

A federal report details the latest telehealth use trends within the Medicare program, showing high satisfaction with the services, but lower interest in continued access to telehealth.

Three years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortions in the U.S. are on the rise due to provider shield laws

A new UAMS study finds that virtual postpartum care can increase critical health screenings for new mothers.

The military health system is already deploying virtual healthcare capabilities that allow specialists to provide remote consultation to battlefield medics.

Virtual health coaches represent a paradigm shift in how we approach aging and wellness.

Health plan members can achieve better health and lower medical costs with primary care, but only if they have adequate access to primary care clinicians. The United States is in the midst of a severe primary care shortage. A recent survey found that primary care appointment wait time is 23.5 days, an increase of 14% over the past three years.

MUSC Health’s hybrid CARES program expands access to unhoused individuals, leveraging telehealth and street medicine to reduce barriers to care like transportation.

AI is virtually expanding, reshaping and personalizing telehealth practices in triaging, image analysis, patient diagnoses, treatment planning, monitoring and mental health.

AI is virtually expanding, reshaping and personalizing telehealth practices in triaging, image analysis, patient diagnoses, treatment planning, monitoring and mental health.

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are increasingly recognising the empowering role of digital health technologies, with the majority agreeing that virtual care has boosted patient control over health management. This is according to a recent poll by GlobalData, published in the report Next Frontier of Healthtech Innovation.

Why assessing remote care quality matters for RPM’s future The digital healthcare boom has spurred the adoption of virtual care models, including at-home care models

For people living with chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, routine care means regular appointments, lab work, medication changes, lifestyle counseling. It’s a lot, but technology is helping to shift the load.

Allina Health, a prominent Midwest healthcare system serving patients across Minnesota and Western Wisconsin, is collaborating with TytoCare to launch a unique hybrid care program.

Health systems that were early virtual care adopters have evolved their telehealth organizational strategies following the COVID-19 pandemic to scale up tech initiatives.

Calls are growing louder to make permanent regulatory flexibilities for telehealth.

What happens when nursing’s frontlines face a perfect storm of workforce shortages, high-acuity patients, and mounting pressure to deliver value-based care?

Texas Children’s Pediatrics offers parents a “sick-day utility belt” to help physicians virtually treat and diagnose common illnesses.

At HealthLeaders’ Virtual Nursing Mastermind event this week in Atlanta, chief nursing executives discussed how the health system of the future will use technology to reinvent the care team.

Barbara Williams, of Boligee, Alabama, is one of nearly 3 million Americans who live in mostly rural counties that lack both health care and reliable high-speed internet, according to an analysis by KFF Health News. (Andi Rice for KFF Health News)

Houston Methodist Hospital is using text messaging, voice technology and generative AI predictive analytics to drive patient-centered care.

‘Innovation Out of Necessity’: Why Virtual Care Is Crucial for Rural Providers As healthcare delivery continues to extend beyond the traditional hospital or clinic, patients

In an effort to reduce patient harm and support staff efficiency, Virtua Health is modernizing the hospital room with virtual health tools, such as cameras and sensors.

Elon Musk, the nation’s cost-cutter in chief, should consider telehealth’s return on investment, not just its price tag.

For some patients staying at Akron Children’s Hospital and their families, an additional member of the care team is now available to provide updates and ask questions through their in-room monitors.

That’s the message Teladoc Health’s Scott Wilson and two colleagues from Valley Health System will be delivering at HIMSS25. Wilson offers a preview of the session, with tips for realizing value from telehealth.

Virtual medical second opinion (VSO) programs continue to roll out across the country, delivering expert recommendations to better help patients’ diagnoses or treatment options. These VSO programs can offer immense value to patients and their local treating doctors by leveraging the deep expertise of specialists and exporting it to rural communities and geographies that lack such sub-specialty expertise.

One virtual care CEO says telehealth is improving care for rare and complex diseases, helping compounding pharmacists – and continually improving with artificial intelligence.

New research shows that artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) goggles could revolutionize therapy — helping patients overcome addiction and receive unbiased care.

New research reveals that older adults use various digital health tools, including patient portals and telehealth platforms, but demographic factors shape utilization.

As part of its ongoing commitment to student mental health and well-being, Tulane is launching a new telehealth service that will offer behavioral health care as well as crisis management and mental health coaching for students.

Virtual doctor visits have been a game changer for improving access, especially in rural areas

With only two weeks remaining in the year, Congress appears poised to pass a government funding deal (the “Further Continuing Appropriations and Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025”) that includes a welcome holiday gift for health care providers and patients – an expansive health care package that would extend certain telehealth flexibilities promulgated during the COVID-19 public health emergency (“PHE”) for an additional two years. The extended telehealth flexibilities were originally set to expire on December 31, 2024. This extension would generally allow providers to continue to serve Medicare patients via telehealth consistent with the current practices.

Physicians said in this year’s Doximity survey that telemedicine tools have helped them improve disease management and patient access. They also said adherence to treatment plans, patient outcomes and productivity are up.

The facts, by now, are impossible to ignore. According to the CDC’s latest findings, 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable [1]. Among the contributing factors is the rising number of maternity care deserts across the United States – counties in which access to the full range of maternity health care services is limited or absent. A 2022 report by March of Dimes confirms that 5% of counties nationwide had less maternity access than two years prior, affecting up to 6.9 million women and almost 500,000 births in the U.S.

A study shows that an at-home care model incorporating virtual care, remote patient monitoring and urgent care was linked to shorter hospital stays than standard inpatient care.

Digital technology can better assist nurses to manage end of life care in residential aged care facilities but ensuring its impact requires better tools, training, and ongoing support, a new study has found.

Healthcare leaders discuss how digital health technologies are boosting population health efforts by enhancing access and outcomes, helping them achieve value-based care goals.

Research reveals three main benefits for healthcare organizations offering inpatient virtual care programs.

The agency is proposing telehealth access grants to establish fixed, secure environments outfitted with reliable internet and secure video that connect veterans hobbled by the digital divide to health services.

Before 2024 ends, Congress will decide whether to keep or change rules about telehealth, or let them expire. And even though the decision will focus on Medicare’s payment for virtual patient care, it will likely impact telehealth access for people with other kinds of health insurance too.

The benefits of connected care and remote patient monitoring have catapulted digital health into mainstream medical offerings, but issues of reimbursement and insurance technicalities are hindering adoption.

Without fixing workforce shortages and social determinants issues, rural telehealth’s impact on care access will be limited.

For a patient facing radiation therapy for cancer, the process is filled with unknowns. They might wonder about the radiation itself—will it burn? Then there’s the face mask for head and neck cancer patients—will it be tolerable? And those radiation placement tattoos— will they hurt? The uncertainty can be overwhelming for someone already dealing with fear, anxiety, or anger related to their diagnosis and other treatments.

Nearly 3 in 10 consumers skip, delay or stop care because they can’t afford it.

GenAI holds promise for ameliorating patient navigation and affordability issues that get in the way of patient care access, healthcare consumers say.

As a child growing up in northern Nigeria, Dr. Funmi Adewara experienced a severe hand injury that required multiple surgeries and frequent hospital visits.

These visits exposed her to the harsh realities of the country’s healthcare system. “I remember sitting in overcrowded waiting rooms, watching doctors stretched thin, unable to meet the needs of so many patients,” Adewara recalls.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs has announced nationwide availability of tele-emergency care (tele-EC), providing timely virtual emergency care options to veterans and improving access to world-class care.

An expert discusses the combination of RPM and artificial intelligence, with examples of how tools are being developed and used today to improve patient access and expand virtual care.

How Hippo Virtual Care™ Can Help Reverse the Physician Exodus The shortage of physicians that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic is showing no signs

KeyCare CMO Dr. Carrie Nelson discusses how virtual care can improve acute and chronic conditions while easing clinical workload and improving patient access, especially for seniors during winter.

When Jodi Miller was 49, she started to experience mood swings, hot flashes, weight gain, and adult acne — some of the many symptoms of menopause.

Consultant Matt Wolf says that, despite telehealth staying in the spotlight since the pandemic, it faces some setbacks that could limit lasting success. Incentivizing better patient outcomes could help virtual care make more economic sense.

CLEVELAND–(BUSINESS WIRE)–New data from The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic, a leading provider of virtual second opinions (VSOs), reveals regional and condition-specific trends from patients using VSOs to apply world-class medical expertise to diagnoses and treatment plans.

Telehealth delivery varies widely across physician age groups, practice areas By Nick Thomas Telehealth provision, though remaining a significant aspect of medical delivery since the start

The Vitamin Shoppe expands telehealth offering with testosterone replacement therapy By Jessica Hagen New Jersey-based nutritional supplements supplier The Vitamin Shoppe announced it is expanding its recently launched Whole Health

DENVER (KDVR) — Telemedicine has been used for decades, however, it exploded during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, experts said it is only going to expand.

A new study highlights the variability of telehealth utilization by specialty, with some specialties like mental healthcare continuing to experience high telehealth use.

Artificial intelligence is helping improve remote patient monitoring technology, with especially promising applications focused on diabetes. One CEO discusses the quality and cost-efficiency promise of “the next generation of remote care.”

“Telehealth already has proven its value in increasing access to care – but paired with effective, responsible AI usage, it holds the promise of more efficient, effective and personalized mental health services,” a telepsychiatry provider CEO says.

The top clinical leaders in the nation agree that virtual nursing is the next step in care delivery. Here’s how they are advancing their programs.

The emergence of doctor-on-demand app development stands as a revolutionary force, shaping the healthcare industry’s future. This innovative healthcare solution connects patients and healthcare providers easily, bringing a paradigm shift that redefines patient-doctor interaction while simultaneously improving accessibility.

The Act is the world’s first major law for AI implementation and provides regulations for high-risk applications of the technology, including its use in healthcare.

As we’re halfway through the year, the nursing field continues to experience significant shifts, marked by the rise of AI, staff shortages and efforts to combat staff burnout.

The proposed Physician Fee Schedule includes, among other things, Medicare coverage for care management using telehealth and digital health tools, as well as coverage for some digital therapeutics devices used in behavioral health treatment

Reimagining health system performance through enhanced centralization and coordination

Walmart Inc. is scaling back in another area of its healthcare operation.

A CEO who specializes in this combination reveals how artificial intelligence has the ability to help analyze and summarize key virtual care consultation points, detect patterns in patient data to deliver more personalized care, and much more.

During the pandemic, they were heroes. Now, they’re apparently expendable.

A new partnership with Carpenter Health Network is bringing immediate benefits to providers and patients.

After The Carpenter Health Network deployed the Hippo Virtual Care™ platform, the network’s chief medical officer, James Ratliff, MD, called the platform “an absolute differentiator” that brings “an acute solution to an acute problem.”

Amazon Clinic will become part of One Medical, though it will still provide on-demand virtual care for minor conditions on a pay-per-visit basis.

By filling out an online health questionnaire, customers can seek medical care from a licensed provider with no appointment

Last quarter delivered several shocks to the healthcare system, including a series of downturns for virtual care.

In response to tightening profit margins in healthcare, the adoption of telemedicine and remote monitoring technologies is accelerating as a strategic move to cut costs and maintain quality care outside of traditional hospital settings.

In an age of digital evolution and expanding care options, what today’s healthcare consumer wants is changing.

For telehealth to transcend novelty and become a fully integrated part of healthcare delivery, it needs to focus on reimbursement, accessibility, and patient engagement.

Improving access to care is key in a new partnership introducing digital rehabilitation programs to support patients with long-term conditions in India.

Over the past few years, scientists have been eyeing sweat as the next breakthrough avenue for wearable devices. So far, the tech hasn’t seen commercialization from the likes of Apple or Samsung, but the work continues.

Telehealth is collapsing.” “Telehealth is going through a contraction.” “There is a dark cloud hovering over virtual care.”

An estimated 21% of adults have arthritis

No matter what form they take, one thing is clear — there is an urgent demand for digital primary care providers to guide patient navigation in the digital health era.

Emily Barey, chief nurse evangelist at Epic and 2024 Changemaker, discusses how building new healthcare technology requires observing the problems users face and gathering a diverse team to help solve them.

By using artificial intelligence to analyze patient data and provide targeted recommendations, health systems can build a more intuitive, user-friendly experience that empowers patients to make informed decisions about their care, one expert says.

In the early days of the pandemic, as social distancing forced patients out of doctors’ offices, health care organizations scrambled to offer care online. In turn, health care accreditation organizations rushed to tweak their standards, filling a void in best practices for virtual visits.

The health system’s expanded app, Cedars-Sinai Connect, will allow parents and Spanish-speaking adults to access 24/7 on-demand care.

This trend is growing because advances in technology and patient preference are driving the hospital-at-home movement.

Citing compliance strains on providers and others, and the need to maintain patient care continuity, more than 200 virtual care stakeholders urged the agency to release its regulatory scheme for the prescribing of controlled substances through telehealth.

What some call flyover country, I call America’s heartland. It’s the part of the map between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes, in states with more cows than people and roads you can drive for an hour without seeing a gas station.

Unadjusted research models show high telehealth use among minority race groups during the pandemic, but models that adjust for geography reveal the opposite.

Over 40 percent of patients used telehealth in 2022, but certain groups are more likely to use the care modality than others, new research reveals.

Since 2010, there has been over $100 billion of venture funding invested in digital health companies. Yet despite this growth and the desire from patients and physicians for progress to continue, the health care system still struggles to address the ongoing health care challenges of access, quality, outcomes, affordability and equity, even with the introduction of new digital health tools.

Both patients and professionals are becoming more comfortable with virtual care, helping improve outcomes when access to traditional, in-person care is inconsistent.

Experts emphasized the value of proactive approaches, meaningful interactions and seamless connections to human support while using AI-enabled chatbots in healthcare.

The COVID-19 pandemic gave a boost to the virtual world, with many people realizing that they can not only work remotely, but also receive education and health care services by distance.

In the midst of the national nurse staffing shortage, nurse recruitment and retention are top priorities for most healthcare industry leaders. In addition to providing hands-on patient care, nurses are tasked with a significant number of administrative tasks, which makes it increasingly important for health systems to develop and deploy innovative care models to better support nurses.

Digital technologies have changed the way we live, the way we look at life and the way we experience things. It is no surprise that in this age of rapid technological advancement, digital technologies have permeated every facet of our lives, reshaping industries and transforming the way we access services.

Virtual nursing support helps nurses at the bedside keep their focus on patient care.