The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for everyone, including the psoriatic disease community. People living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis require routine monitoring and treatment from health care providers in order to maintain their health and the pandemic made it more difficult for the immunocompromised to access their provider.
In response to the public health emergency, federal and state agencies provided new, and in some cases time-limited, flexibilities for telehealth services to enable patients to see providers from the safety of their homes in order to reduce disruptions to care. As we start to emerge from the worst of the pandemic, legislative action is needed to determine what role telehealth will continue to play in the future.
Telehealth Policy Principles
For the future of telehealth, it is important that the patient perspectives be considered to ensure that policymakers fully account for the needs of all Americans, including those with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Through our coalition work, NPF worked with other patient advocacy organizations to establish a set of patient principles to ensure that all patients can continue to safely access appropriate telehealth services in the future. Some of the guiding principles include:
