The Health IT Now Coalition (HITN) has sent a letter endorsing legislation aimed at expanding veterans’ access to telehealth services to the bill’s co-sponsors, Healthcare Informatics reports.
Under current rules, physicians must be licensed in the state where a veteran resides in order to provide telehealth services to that patient. Such rules are waived if both the patient and physician conduct the visit from federal facilities.
About 677,000 veterans used telehealth services last year, according to acting Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Assistant Deputy Undersecretary Maureen McCarthy. Further, about 122,000 of those veterans used telehealth to obtain mental health services at their homes. McCarthy noted that such visits have helped to decrease travel costs, lower the number of missed appointments and reduce hospital admissions. For the full article click here
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