Here are the five most popular telehealth stories published by Becker's Hospital Review in 2020:
1. Sam's Club launches $1 telehealth visits for members: 7 details
Sam's Club partnered with primary care telehealth provider 98point6 in September to offer members virtual visits. The discounted subscription for club members gives them unlimited telehealth visits for $1 per visit and has board-certified physicians available 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
2. 13 things to know about Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare's virtual care strategies
Although telehealth adoption accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the nation's biggest for-profit insurers have been forging digital health partnerships and investments for years. In September, Becker's compiled 13 details about Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare's telehealth expansions and digital health initiatives from this year.
In April, CMS Administrator Seema Verma addressed CMS and private payer coverage for telehealth during and post pandemic. She told The Wall Street Journal: "I think the genie's out of the bottle on this one. I think it's fair to say that the advent of telehealth has been just completely accelerated, that it's taken this crisis to push us to a new frontier, but there's absolutely no going back."
4. CMS adds 85 more Medicare services covered under telehealth
CMS on March 30, CMS expanded Medicare coverage of 85 additional services provided via telehealth, including emergency department visits and initial nursing facility and discharge visits.
5. US insurers cutting telehealth coverage as COVID-19 cases surge
After changing policies to cover telehealth more broadly during the pandemic, some insurers began scaling it back even as COVID-19 cases were surge in some states, according to a July USA Today report.