More than 230 healthcare organizations recently penned a letter to all 50 state governors urging action on expiring state licensure flexibilities, which have helped increase access to telehealth services during the pandemic. 

Best Buy Health has been launching products and pursuing partnerships focused on remote patient monitoring in 2021. Here are four key examples:

Cricket Health tapped former Optum Health executive Ryan Jacobs as its chief commercial officer.

Telehealth use among individuals with private health insurance increased by 2.4 percent across almost all U.S. census regions in July, according to healthcare data cost organization Fair Health. 

The American Telemedicine Association rallied a group of more than 50 providers, health plans and technology companies to ask Congress to expand regulatory flexibilities that let telehealth and remote care services be treated as a benefit for certain employees. 

During the pandemic, healthcare organizations embraced telehealth to ensure they could provide access and high quality care to their patients.

Telehealth took off during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by lockdowns and loosening of regulatory and reimbursement rules that enabled more providers to offer such services. This has been an eye opener for parents, many of whom experienced pediatric telehealth for the first time.

Teladoc posted an $84 million loss in the third quarter of 2021 following a series of acquisitions.

The American Telehealth Association has launched the first phase of its goal of eliminating health disparities in virtual care. 

Here are nine companies Becker's Hospital Review has covered that have unveiled telehealth strategies in 2021.

Telemedicine startups have pulled a record year of funding, with more than 500 companies securing $13 billion as of Oct. 18. However, with uncertainty surrounding state licensing waivers and reimbursement, some key players are concerned about growth stalling out, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 21. 

The Federal Communications Commission on Oct. 21 awarded a total of $40.46 million to 71 healthcare organizations as part of its $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program.

Personal genomics company 23andMe has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire telehealth platform Lemonaid Health, Market Watch reported Oct. 22.

Telehealth usage has boomed during the pandemic, but its utilization is not spread evenly across all patient populations, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Sixty-two percent of people feel as though today’s healthcare system is intentionally confusing, according to Harvard Business Review—and we can’t blame them.

Microsoft has unveiled several capabilities for virtual healthcare visits, which can be used through Epic and Cerner EHR, according to an Oct. 19 Microsoft Teams blog post.

Amazon inked a partnership with TytoCare, which uses remote exam kits for virtual care, to enhance telehealth capabilities.

Congress has set aside legislation to make telehealth permanent to focus on President Joe Biden's higher priorities, Bloomberg Law reported Oct. 15.

Twenty-seven million U.S. broadband households reported being unable to visit a doctor in 2021, according to research released Oct. 13 by market research and consulting company Parks Associates.

Zocdoc and Thriveworks, a mental healthcare provider with 310 U.S. locations, are partnering to expand telehealth services nationwide.