Teledermatology Before, During, and After Covid-19: A Vital Tool to Improve Access and Equity in Specialty Care
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2021-02-10Keywords
TeledermatologyTelehealth
COVID-19
Access
Policy
Advocacy
Equality
Dermatology
Health Policy
Health Services Administration
Infectious Disease
Telemedicine
Virus Diseases
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has rapidly expanded across the nation as medical systems have had to shift to providing care through virtual modalities to ensure the safety of patients and staff. Teledermatology, in particular, is wellsuited for telemedicine, with literature supporting its efficacy, equitable quality and accuracy, and cost-effectiveness in comparison to in-person visits. Teledermatology holds great potential in continuing to increase access to patients and ensuring continuity of care, particularly for those from rural and underserved areas. Although introduced decades ago, the adoption of virtual visits has previously been limited by restrictive coverage policies, lack of reimbursement, and maintenance costs. While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and most private payers have ensured broad coverage for telehealth since the start of the pandemic, many of these policy changes are temporary and set to expire at the end of the public health emergency. Continued advocacy efforts and future studies highlighting teledermatology’s impact, particularly on minorities and underserved patient populations, are critical for long-term legislative changes to occur and to provide coverage to our most vulnerable patients. In this article, we highlight the state of teledermatology prior to the pandemic, the legislative changes that permitted teledermatology to rapidly expand during the pandemic, and the importance of continued coverage after the pandemic.Source
Kassamali B, Tan AJ, Franciosi EB, Rashighi M, LaChance A. Teledermatology Before, During, and After Covid-19: A Vital Tool to Improve Access and Equity in Specialty Care. J Cell Immunol. 2021; 3(1): 61-67.
DOI
10.33696/immunology.3.079Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/27426Notes
Ellen B. Franciosi participated in this study as a medical student in the Senior Scholars research program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Rights
Copyright: © 2021 Kassamali B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Distribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.33696/immunology.3.079
Scopus Count
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Copyright: © 2021 Kassamali B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.