Telehealth in the time
of COVID-19

In an effort to help providers better serve patients sheltering in place during this Public Health Emergency (PHE), many states (as well as federal Medicare) have taken action to temporarily remove policies limiting the use of telehealth.

We’ve been keeping track of these changes since the pandemic began, and documenting a living summary of actions made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as other federal agencies. In January 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services released a letter stating that the PHE — and therefore the policy changes it galvanized — will likely remain in place for the entirety of 2021.

See summary of changes >

CCHP also hosts webinars and produces videos to help providers, policymakers, and the public navigate pandemic-specific policy updates.

We walk through the basics of telehealth reimbursement policy in the US and during the pandemic.

WATCH ALL OUR POLICY EXPLAINERS

For the most part, states continue to keep their temporary COVID-19 emergency policies siloed from their permanent telehealth policies, yet while in effect, they supersede all existing regulations. We expect some of these temporary policies will become permanent even after the pandemic is resolved — if and when that happens, we’ll update our database to include them as current state laws and regulations.

You can explore COVID-19 specific policies by topic and by jurisdiction below.

You can also explore how all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and federal Medicare have administered emergency policy updates across eight COVID-19 related policy topics.