Telehealth reduces primary care spending, as telehealth utilization has been associated with lower emergency department utilization and inpatient hospitalizations, according to a Dec. 13 study editorial published in Nature.

Most patients who had a telehealth visit didn't require an in-person follow-up appointment in the next three months, according to a Dec. 13 study from Epic Research. 

Only 11 percent of hospitals and 8 percent of practices said they are looking to expand their telehealth offerings in 2023, according to a Dec. 14 telehealth report from national healthcare consultancy firm Sage Growth Partners.

Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System has partnered with musculoskeletal digital health company IncludeHealth to offer patients virtual physical therapy in their homes.

Telehealth startups offering private, on-demand virtual care have been sharing some of the sensitive information gathered during a patient's intake and checkout process with big tech companies, TheMarkup reported Dec. 13. 

UNC Health System's integrative medicine clinic has expanded, allowing patients to conduct their visits either in-person or via telemedicine. 

Telehealth company Ro has tapped Gia Lee, former deputy general counsel at HHS, as the company's new legal chief, Bloomberg Law reported Dec. 9.

Becker's has covered three health systems and hospitals implementing new telehealth programs since Nov. 22: 

COVID-19 fell from the second to third most common telehealth diagnosis, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the widespread adoption of telehealth. However, a new report from the Boston-based Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute highlighted telehealth disparities across Massachusetts, the Cape Cod Times reported Dec. 6. 

Healthcare organizations continue to grapple with a shrinking and burned-out workforce while simultaneously working to fulfill their missions of delivering high-quality care and expanding access. That has prompted a need for innovative solutions that can extend the reach of traditional care.

Bay Pines (Fla.) VA Healthcare is rolling out a telehealth system for physicians and nurses in its intensive care unit, WTSP reported Dec. 1.

The American Hospital Association is asking the Drug Enforcement Administration to extend and clarify pandemic-era rules that allowed providers to prescribe addiction-treatment medications through telehealth.

Over the past two years, the healthcare sector has been challenged to rapidly adopt a variety of technology trends like telehealth, as well as to closely follow an accelerated level of innovation in medical devices and new approaches for delivering care. These trends have underscored the importance of connectivity in solving for the latest challenges of the day. In fact, the Federal Communications Commission recently acknowledged that reliable cellular connectivity is a social determinant of health.

As hospitals and health systems increasingly look to remotely monitor patients for a variety of chronic conditions, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente is already tracking the diabetes of nearly 40,000 people from the comfort of their homes.

AvaSure, an acute virtual care and patient monitoring company, has named four C-suite executives to its team.

Nest Collaborative, a virtual breastfeeding support platform, has partnered with Kettering (Ohio) Health to provide telehealth breastfeeding support to patients giving birth at the system's maternity centers. 

More than 100 health startups and medical associations are lobbying for permanent permission to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth, a permission that has been temporarily granted due to the pandemic-era flexibilities, The Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 25. 

Omaha, Neb.-based CHI Health sent a letter to Congress on Nov. 28 urging them to continue the pandemic-era safe harbor for first-dollar high deductible health plan telehealth coverage.

Healthcare organizations are faced with myriad pressures ranging from controlling costs to dealing with labor shortages, addressing changing consumer dynamics and maintaining patient loyalty.