Telehealth's importance grows amid coronavirus pandemic

Videoconferencing can't be used for everything, of course. Annual physicals and diagnoses requiring the doctor to lay hands on the patient must be done in person. — Health care photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com

The coronavirus compelled doctors to see patients in new ways, and one of those is through a computer monitor, miles away from the patient.

The pandemic placed greater emphasis on telehealth, which has been around for years but was put to use urgently when the coronavirus spread in early 2020. Officials with Medicare, the government-sponsored insurance for senior citizens, also increased the number of the occasions in which telehealth could be covered during the pandemic.