Maintaining Telehealth Access to Medicaid-Covered Pediatric Services After the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

Pediatric providers rapidly scaled up their telehealth capabilities in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). As states look to the future of Medicaid telehealth policies, there are opportunities to maintain access to certain pediatric services delivered through telehealth. This issue brief provides a brief overview of the telehealth response to COVID-19, outlines temporary state policy flexibilities that improved access to pediatric telehealth services, and highlights opportunities for permanent state policy expansions to maintain access to pediatric telehealth services within Medicaid now that the PHE has ended.

This issue brief is one in a three-part series focused on improving access to health care coverage at the end of the PHE, see also:

• Strategies to Ensure Continuous Coverage for Children at the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
• Working With Community-Based Organizations and Individuals with Lived Experience to Support Continuity of Coverage at the End of the Public Health Emergency