Telehealth practice among health centers during the COVID-19 pandemic - United States, July 11-17, 2020

ABSTRACT

Telehealth is a promising approach to promoting access to care and can facilitate public health mitigation strategies and help prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory illnesses, while supporting continuity of care. Although CMS's change of its telehealth provisions enabled health centers to expand telehealth by aligning guidance and leveraging federal resources, sustaining expanded use of telehealth services might require additional policies and resources. During 11-17 July, 2020, 963 (95.4%) of 1,009 Health Resources and Services Administration-funded health centers that responded to a voluntary weekly survey reported providing telehealth services. Health centers in urban areas were more likely to provide >30% of visits virtually than were those in rural areas. Compared with health centers that reported full staffing capacity, the prevalence of reporting >30% telehealth visits was 22% higher among those reporting 5% staff absence and was 63% higher among health centers reporting 10% staff absence. No association was detected between the percentage of telehealth visits and PPE shortages for the week following the survey (the week ending July 24), nor was an association found between the percentage of telehealth visits and the change in the number of weekly visits from 2019.