Deborah Dyett Desir, MD, assistant professor in the Section of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology at Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine, testified before a state legislative committee on March 14 in support of two telemedicine proposals. The proposed bills would extend parity in payment, allow for audio-only communication, and feature patient protections.
Gov. Ned Lamont later that day signed an executive order allowing the expanded access to telemedicine to continue through April 20, when his declaration of a public health emergency in Connecticut expires.
The Connecticut State Medical Society, (CSMS), which lobbied for the telemedicine expansion, commended Lamont’s action, as well as his commitment to working with the legislature to allow medical providers to continue using telehealth services after his executive order expires.
Desir joined CSMS President Gregory Shangold, MD, in testifying by video in support of the bills. “Telehealth allowed us to continue to deliver care to every single patient who needed care during the height of the COVID-19 public health emergency,” said Desir, who also is the medical director of Yale’s clinic in Hamden.
The telehealth visits were vital to her patients with chronic autoimmune diseases, who often are prescribed medications that need to be monitored carefully. “These patients could not have been cared for in any other way,” she said.
Telehealth also became an efficient way for physicians to treat underserved patient populations during the pandemic. “We need to preserve access to telehealth visits because there are subsets of patients who benefit from or need telehealth visits,” Desir said, such as elderly patients who have transportation issues, parents with childcare issues, and working patients with limited time off. “All benefit from having the option of a telehealth visit,” she said. Recognizing that Lamont’s emergency order expires on April 20, 2021, Desir encouraged other physicians to contact their state representative or senator about the value of telemedicine.