Telehealth on hold: A message to physicians

Physicians are some of the most important and trusted messengers in their communities. They can help by telling their patients and community leaders about the benefits of telehealth availability, said Kyle Zebley, senior vice president, public policy of the American Telemedicine Association, and executive director of ATA Action, its advocacy affiliate.

Medical Economics: Our main audience is primary care physicians. What would you like to say to them? Or what would you like them to know?

Kyle Zebley:I delivered a similar message to them in the past. Again, it's that there are few messengers more important than our physicians that are present in communities across the country. They're credible with their patients. They're credible messengers in the community. They deliver clear messages to their elected representatives, and when they speak, particularly as much as possible, when they speak with one voice, it is extraordinarily powerful. And so there's a lot of different competing priorities for the time of your membership and listeners and those that view the work that you do, but I think that this is an extremely important time, again, to get involved, to use that credibility that they have in their communities to good effect by weighing in with their elected representatives, with their senators, and saying, stop the insanity and bring back these popular, bipartisan programs that really increase access to care in a clinically appropriate way and that lessen the overwhelming burden and stress and strain that exists now in our U.S. health care system.