Biden Administration Seeks to Expand Telehealth in Rural America
New funding will allow more medical appointments to take place via video in rural communities, where some of the nation’s oldest and sickest patients live.
Joanne Haynes, a nurse practitioner at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, meeting virtually with a patient. The center will receive more than $3.5 million to improve health care in rural areas of the state. Imani Khayyam for The New York Times
By Mark Walker, New York Times
The roughly 15 percent of the population living in rural America includes some of the oldest and sickest patients in the country — a disparity that has grown more stark during the coronavirus pandemic. The Biden administration is investing more in telemedicine, whose use has grown sharply during the pandemic, as a way to improve their access to care.
Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it was distributing nearly $20 million to strengthen telehealth services — usually medical appointments that take place by video or phone — in rural and underserved communities across the country. While the amount is relatively modest, it is part of a broader push to address the long-neglected health care infrastructure in those areas.