Telehealth has become a normal part of the daily life of seniors, although there has been a big behind the scene battle being played out as Medicare has threatened to stop reimbursing for these visits once the pandemic has lifted. However, with the new Omicron strain of COVID-19 spreading like wildfire, for now, at least, Medicare has backed down and extended coverage of remote health care through at least 2023. Granted, it does have its limitations. For instance, patients and physicians worry that the lack of face-to-face visits won’t allow the doctor to pick up on subtle clues about the patient’s health that body language might reveal with a personal visit. However, with 52.7 million Medicare visits clocked last year versus only 840K in 2019, clearly something is working!
