As the pandemic nears an end, the federal government has signaled that telehealth regulatory compliance is returning quickly, and it’s time to think once again about privacy, security, and quality when delivering care via telemedicine. Importantly, on Sept. 26, 2022, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released GAO-22-104454, titled “Medicare Telehealth: Actions Need to Strengthen Oversight and Help Providers Educate Patients on Privacy and Security Risks.”
The GAO report notes that in 2020, the “use of telehealth services rose tenfold,” with 53 million telehealth visits during the last three quarters of 2020. Only 5 million telehealth visits were recorded in the same period in 2019. The number of in-person services dropped by 25 percent. According to the GAO report, mental health and behavioral health providers delivered approximately half of their services via telehealth between April 2020 and December 2020.