The United States has long struggled with a health care system that is both expensive and often inaccessible when it comes to providing certain populations with equitable care.

In March 2020, the White House and Congress quickly appropriated $8.3 billion through the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriation Act, which included $500 million for Medicare providers to waive the adoption and use of telehealth services in both rural and urban areas.

In this paper, the authors propose flexibilities within the current health care system that accommodate the changes imposed by new technologies, as well as continued government incentives to drive more competitive options and alternatives for health care delivery. In the end, they argue that government must continue to promote the use of remote health care and leverage national investments in broadband infrastructure to drive the complementary use of telehealth with traditional health care. The authors also propose that current modality flexibilities remain in place, especially as the nation undergoes efforts to close the digital divide. Finally, telehealth must be positioned and implemented in coordination with value-based payments to ensure patient access to meaningful care that can be bolstered and not substituted by existing and emerging health care technologies.