September 04, 2020 New HHS Action Plan Outlines Trump Administration’s Coordinated Rural Health Strategy This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new action plan focused on rural health care as part of its response to President Trump’s August 3 rural health Executive Order. This assessment, a product of the HHS Rural Task Force, is HHS’ first in-depth look at rural health care in more than 18 years.
September 03, 2020 Federal Agencies Join Forces to Focus on Telehealth and Broadband Access This week, the Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the co-signing of a Memorandum of Understanding combining their efforts to expand broadband, which would increase access to telehealth in rural America.
September 01, 2020 Governor Wolf Authorizes Second Extension of COVID-19 Disaster Declaration Governor Wolf today announced a second extension of the COVID-19 Disaster Declaration. The initial declaration was signed March 6, 2020, the same day as the announcement of the first two presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania.
August 21, 2020 HHS Aims to Increase Health Care Access in Rural Communities Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the recipients of more than $35 million aimed at increasing access to high-quality health care in rural communities. Through the Health Resources and Services Administration, these awards went to more than 50 organizations across 33 states including Pennsylvania.
August 19, 2020 Telehealth Use Among Adults Increases New polls show the number of older adults using telehealth increased from 4 percent to 46 percent during 2020. The polls conducted during 2019 to 2020 included national samples of more than 2,000 adults age 50 to 80.
August 03, 2020 New Fact Sheet Supports Efforts to Make Telehealth Flexibilities Permanent The American Hospital Association (AHA) has released a new fact sheet to support its national effort to urge Congress and the Administration to ensure telehealth flexibilities remain in place after the COVID-19 public health emergency ends and to reimburse virtual services on par with in-person care.
July 16, 2020 The Digital Divide in Telemedicine during COVID-19 COVID-19 continues to create a shift in the way patients view and access care, leading many health care providers to rely more on telemedicine. However, a new study highlights the struggles many Pennsylvanians are still facing to access telemedicine services.
July 08, 2020 Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators Advocate for Permanent Expansion of Telemedicine Last week, Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D) and Pat Toomey (R) joined the signing of a bipartisan letter led by Senators Cassidy (R-LA) and Smith (D-MN) showing support for the flexibilities the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) created to enhance providers’ ability to care for patients via telemedicine (also known as telehealth) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 22, 2020 Younger Patients Prefer Telemedicine Pre-Pandemic While COVID-19 led to the rapid adoption of telemedicine, a new study finds that before the pandemic female patients and younger adults between ages 18 and 44 were more likely to choose telemedicine visits.
June 17, 2020 Federal Hearing Testifiers Express Support for Use of Telemedicine During COVID-19 This week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing to share lessons learned using telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.