Doctors Hope Relaxed Telehealth Rules Continue Beyond Pandemic

Doctors relying on eased telehealth rules to treat patients during the pandemic could face familiar obstacles to remote treatment when enforcement of security and privacy requirements return.

Chatting with physicians online has drastically expanded during the pandemic via video-conferencing apps such as Google Meet, Zoom, Skype, and Apple FaceTime. That was more difficult when privacy and security rules were more rigorously enforced.

Temporarily relaxing the privacy and security rules was aimed at keeping patients from showing up at hospitals and doctors’ offices, potentially exposing themselves and others to the coronavirus. Now the goal is to give all patients virtual access in the long term, Todd Czartoski, chief executive for telehealth and chief medical technology officer at Providence St. Joseph Health, said.

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