Telehealth Use in Nursing Homes Increased After Federal Expansion in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
Nursing homes were about 11 times as likely to use telehealth services for their residents after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research. Beginning March 6, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began temporarily paying for expanded use of telehealth services, including in nonrural areas, across a wider range of settings, and by a broader set of healthcare providers. After reviewing telehealth use surveys given to 644 nursing homes from January 1, 2019, to August 4, 2020, researchers found the odds of a nursing home using telehealth for individual patient consultations or to conduct second opinions were more than four times as great after the CMS expansion. Researchers also found about 16% of nursing homes had no telehealth use while 5% had the maximum use.
To learn more, see Alexander G.L. et al. (2020). An evaluation of telehealth expansion in U.S. nursing homes. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa253