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State by state, some patients are losing telehealth access to doctors

The rollback in telehealth access has been happening gradually and quietly over the past few months as pandemic-era emergency health orders lapsed.

Medical director of Doctor on Demand Dr. Vibin Roy speaks to a patient during an online primary care visit conducted from his home, Friday, April 23, 2021, in Keller, Texas. Some U.S. employers and insurers want you to make telemedicine your first choice for most doctor visits. Retail giant Amazon and several insurers have started or expanded virtual-first care plans to get people thinking telemedicine routinely, even for annual checkups. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (Lm Otero, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Many states are making it difficult for people to have virtual visits with doctors in other states, partly reversing the explosion in telehealth that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic and calling into question the durability of one of the major technological shifts from the past two years.

The rollback in telehealth access has been happening gradually and quietly over the past few months as pandemic-era emergency health orders lapsed in one state after another, reimposing some of the old rules about when doctors can practice in multiple states.

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At Johns Hopkins Medicine, some patients and their families are now having to switch doctors or drive hours to a different state when previously a video call from their home would have been allowed under the looser regulations, said Dr. Brian Hasselfeld, the health system’s medical director for digital health and telemedicine.

Read more at NBC News here.


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