Free Republic

UPDATE, 6/17/24: In May of 2024, the Guttmacher Institute updated their total abortion number for the year 2023, writing that, “Monthly Abortion Provision Study show that an estimated 1,037,000 abortions occurred in the formal health care system in 2023.” This updated figure reveals that 2,841 abortions daily in the U.S. — 118 abortions per hour, nearly 2 per minute, and one abortion every 30 seconds. “This represents a rate of 15.9 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age,* and is a 11% increase since 2020 [930,160 recorded in 2020], the last year for which comprehensive estimates are available. It is...

A San Francisco Chronicle report claims that while Planned Parenthood was busy “publicly supporting state-level efforts to pass abortion shield laws that protect clinicians providing care to patients within their own state,” the corporation also “privately lobbied officials in California, New York and Massachusetts” against passing so-called telehealth abortion shield laws. The Chronicle reportedly received this information from “half a dozen people involved in the laws’ passage.” The paper claimed Planned Parenthood’s motive for the opposition was that the abortion corporation believed telehealth shield laws “could be risky for providers and damaging to efforts to protect existing abortion care.” The...

Colorado, one of the most pro-abortion states in the country, is “a leading provider nationwide of abortions through telehealth clinics,” Axios reported on Monday. The share of abortion pills provided via telehealth in Colorado increased to 20 percent in March 2023, up from 14 percent in April 2022, according to the report, which cited the Society of Family Planning. The proportion of telehealth abortions in the state is three times the national average of 7.4 percent

Amid the turmoil of the coronavirus, a bright sign of progress has emerged: The growth of telehealth.  Millions of Americans and their employers have learned that they can continue to do their jobs from home, while staying in their sweatpants and reallocating their commute time to family time. But as a physician, I am particularly excited that Americans have discovered the power of telehealth. Earlier this year, policymakers opened-up regulations to allow more Americans to access health care through a video or phone call with their doctors. Patients and providers experienced the convenience and quality of care that remote doctors’ visits...

Encouraging private-sector solutions through targeted deregulation and public-private partnerships is a critical part of the Trump Administration’s COVID-19 response. This approach has successfully expanded testing development, healthcare capacity, and the use of telehealth. Telehealth has grown as the United States continues responding to COVID-19’s challenges, leading to public health benefits.Telehealth allows patients to connect remotely with medical professionals. Because of advances in smartphones and remote diagnostic testing capabilities, its use recently started to increase. But more comprehensive telehealth adoption was limited due in part to issues with internet access, HIPAA requirements, State licensing laws, provider liability, quality standards, and...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on March 17 lifted all restrictions on telehealth services for Americans covered by Medicare to address the threat of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump announced the lifting of the limits during a press conference at the White House, calling it a “historic breakthrough.” “This has not been done before either,” the president said. Previously Medicare only covered telehealth services for those living in rural areas and brief visits for established patients. With the restrictions lifted, all 62 million Medicare beneficiaries can call a doctor’s office and request to have their...

The business of treating patients via telehealth in the U.S. will dramatically increase to nearly $2 billion in revenue within five years due to a confluence of events in the health care industry from doctor shortages to provider payment changes under the Affordable Care Act. A new report from information and analytics firm IHS says revenue expansion of the teleheath space — which allows doctors and other providers to monitor patients remotely via various devices, computers and related digital technology – will grow to $2.2 billion in 2018 in the U.S. from $240 million this year. The trend toward telehealth...