Medicare Coverage Expanded for Virtual Visits Providing a Significant Boost to the Telehealth Market

Traditionally, telemedicine has struggled to gain a wider acceptance due to regulatory challenges and lack of reimbursement but the COVID-19 outbreak has become a boon to the Telehealth Market. On March 30, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced regulatory changes that will expand coverage of 80 additional telemedicine services such as emergency department visits and initial nursing facility and discharge visits for Medicare beneficiaries.

Telemedicine services will not only assist in freeing up the capacity in healthcare facilities to focus on patients infected with coronavirus but also provide a measure to limit exposure by screening patients before they go to hospitals.

Teladoc, which is one of the largest player in the Telehealth market, announced that the company has seen a 50 percent increase in the number of virtual medical visits in the second week of March as compared to the same period last year. American Well, another leading player in this market, has launched a national Coronavirus telehealth response program with an aim to make telehealth as the initial screening method for COVID-19.

Telemedicine market in Europe, which has been held back due to strict government regulations, privacy concerns and reluctance among patients to use these services, has seen a considerable uptake after people starting experiencing the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Europe-based telemedicine players such as Doctolib, Qare, Swedish Livi, Push Doctor, and Compugroup Medical SE have seen a significant growth in number of services. Companies are so upbeat about the impact of the pandemic that the CEO of France-based company, Qare predicts that telemedicine will account for up to 10% of the country’s medical consultations by the end of 2021.

Although these regulatory changes are expected to be in place only for the period of the COVID-19 national emergency, the adoption of telehealth services among the population will increase in the foreseeable future.