The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically and permanently altered the telehealth landscape for teaching hospitals, also known as academic medical centers (AMCs). While many AMCs had begun to offer telehealth services before the pandemic, uptake was negligible — telehealth visits represented less than 1% of total AMC ambulatory volume. At the height of the pandemic in April 2020, telehealth visits surged to over 50% of all faculty practice plan evaluation and management (E/M) visits (Figure E.1) During this time, telehealth-use cases proliferated across a wide range of conditions and levels of acuity, ranging from asynchronous consultations for low-acuity needs to hospital-at-home programs for tertiary-level care to remote patient monitoring (RPM) for chronic disease management. Recognizing an opportunity to sustain adoption, many AMCs are setting future telehealth volume targets at 20%-30% of overall ambulatory visits.

Prepared in partnership with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).