Governors, including Nevada's Sisolak, join to improve telehealth services

The governors of Nevada, Colorado, Oregon and Washington have joined to improve telehealth services across their borders.

They issued a joint statement Monday saying the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased the demand for telehealth services.

“With patients reluctant to seek in person care due to exposure risk and transportation access issues, telehealth has offered a way for patients to connect with health providers while mitigating exposure risk,” they said.

During the pandemic, the federal government has agreed to expand health services available remotely and recently announced that some of those flexibilities in payment and other telehealth rules are now permanent.

The guidelines for the cooperative programs include promoting access including equitable access, protecting patient confidentiality, applying standard of care requirements to all services, evidence-based strategies for delivering quality care, providing patient choice and reimbursement for services.