Since then, the pandemic has rapidly changed patient attitudes. In March, the government expanded Medicare telehealth coverage, which will affect roughly 44 million people covered under the program, per AARP. According to the new guidelines, beneficiaries will be able to receive a wide range of services, like office visits, mental health counseling and preventive health screening without leaving their homes. Some large insurers—Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare—are temporarily covering or waiving telemedicine costs.
For physicians and medical professionals, telehealth can reduce exposure to those who have the coronavirus and cut down on crowding in hospitals that are facing a surge in demand. Although the service is not without limitations—doctors using telehealth cannot provide testing for COVID-19, for example—it is an effective alternative that can keep patients who are unlikely to have the virus away from hospitals. According to medical news site STAT, UnitedHealthcare estimates that a telemedicine session costs less than $50. That's a much more affordable alternative to a possibly unnecessary visit to the emergency room—which could cost more than $2,000.
Telemedicine startups in the US (such as Amwell, Doctor on Demand, Ro and 98point6) have reported an unprecedented surge in use as patients are told to avoid going directly to the ER if they do not have severe symptoms. According to a March 2020 SSCG Media Group study, 53% of the healthcare practitioners surveyed said they were using telemedicine because of the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, but they had not used telemedicine prior to this pandemic.