Telemedicine waivers during COVID-19 (2020)
At the start of the pandemic, the federal government and states waived requirements that doctors see patients in person before prescribing. Medicare began paying for telehealth visits at the same rate as in-person visits.
Telehealth use surged during the pandemic and remained elevated afterward.
Many states made telehealth waivers permanent, expanding remote healthcare access.
Like the telehealth waivers, Utah's approval of AI prescribing relaxes a long-standing requirement that a licensed physician issue prescriptions, to expand access to care.
