Telehealth still essential in long-term care, study shows
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Telehealth continues to play a critical role in supporting patients and healthcare providers in long-term care and post-acute settings, according to a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.
According to a report from McKnight Long Term Care News, though use of digital care platforms has decreased from pandemic levels, the research indicates they are still widely used to manage, communicate, and provide specialized treatments to patients.
Telehealth supports continuity in post-acute care
The study revealed that 73% of surveyed post-acute and long-term care clinicians use telehealth for routine checkups, such as outpatient or office visits, while 43% rely on it for specialty care. About a third of facilities also deploy telehealth for urgent care.
In addition to clinical consultations, telehealth has become the lifeline to sustaining family communication and care coordination.
“Our findings suggest that despite decreases in telehealth use since the pandemic’s onset, telehealth remains an important part of routine and specialty care in PALTC settings, and for communications between families or caregivers and providers,” the study authors noted.
The survey, conducted among 49 clinicians attending the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine conference in late 2024, included professionals from skilled nursing, assisted living, and home health facilities.
The results underscore telehealth’s continued relevance, especially in connecting dispersed medical staff, patients, and family members, a function often outsourced to specialized telehealth service providers.
Outsourced telehealth expands access but faces policy hurdles
The study underscored the escalating reliance on outside telehealth technology companies to maintain care continuity in under-resourced areas. Nowadays, a considerable number of healthcare centers depend on external telehealth providers for technical and virtual support and communication with families, which has become crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic and remains so.
Nonetheless, the study’s authors warned that if there is no ongoing political and financial backing, the telehealth systems will eventually cease to function. Obstacles like poor IT facilities and non-availability of personnel for support are still preventing many long-term care facilities from adopting this technology.
Medicare’s temporary COVID-era telehealth waivers, which allowed healthcare providers to give and charge for virtual medical care, came to an end on the last day of September. Reportedly, lawmakers were still considering the options of making these policy changes permanent so that the capabilities could be kept.
In the end, the Weill Cornell study reveals clearly that telehealth has transformed itself from an emergency alternate to a dependent extension of the long-term care that is, in fact, human and technologically managed. Its future now depends on whether or not the policy frameworks will change along with its unarguably indispensable role in the healthcare continuum.
