On October 22 and December 2, 2020, CETF  held Telehealth Fact-Finding Listening Conferences titled Delivering on the Promise of Telehealth to Improve Health Status in California.   

The purposes of the Fact-Finding Listening Conferences were to:

• Understand the status of Telehealth in California.
• Identify the gaps and barriers to optimizing Telehealth to improve  health status for Californians.
• Develop an Action Plan to advance Telehealth policy and funding in California.

The Listening Conferences explored the convergence of broadband technology and healthcare to optimize Telehealth to ensure quality care for medically-disadvantaged residents and to improve overall population health.  These proceedings were rich in content, robust in insight, and timely in conferring as California harnesses its policy leadership and expertise to close the Digital Divide and advance Telehealth.

The Fact-Finding Listening Conferences generated specific actions to optimize Telehealth which are summarized in the Final Report.  The overarching recommendations for the Action Plan Framework are:

Action Plan Framework

•  Enact legislation to permanently reimburse Telehealth services comparable to in-person visits.
• Invest in and ensure ubiquitous high-speed Internet infrastructure to support Telehealth for all patents and providers.
• Institutionalize Telehealth with accountability for improving patient outcomes and overall population health.

This webinar is an Executive Briefing on the Telehealth Fact-Finding Final Report and Action Plan.