WVU in the News: Medicare telehealth expansion vital in COVID-19 outbreak
With West Virginia reporting its first case of exposure to the new coronavirus this week, the use of telemedicine could be vital to keeping the state's older residents safe.
Stephen Davis, associate professor at the West Virginia University School of Public Health, is conducting a pilot program on telemedicine in the Mountain State. He says the Trump administration's expansion of telehealth for Medicare patients will help the state prevent high-risk individuals from being exposed to the virus in health-care environments.
"Telehealth will enable us to be able to deliver some type of health care without having to have some type of interaction with healthcare workers that, sadly, may be infected or become infected themselves," says Davis.