Why telemedicine needs to be a permanent part of Medicare

"While preparing to assist our patients in the emergency rooms and dedicated COVID-19 wards, our clinic continues to triage patient concerns, creates new care plans, and provides a necessary layer of support, reassurance, and education in a chaotic and stressful time. Like all of you, my colleagues and I look forward to resuming our normal lives as once this pandemic is resolved. But, the resolution of this unprecedented public health emergency should not be a reason for CMS to revert back to its old rules. As these first weeks have shown, telemedicine is a valuable, proven, and effective tool for our patients, their families, and our medical community." Magdalena Bednarczyk is a geriatric medicine physician. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "CMS needs to permanently eliminate barriers preventing routine use of telemedicine." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/04/cms-needs-to-permanently-eliminate-barriers-preventing-routine-use-of-telemedicine.html)