Chronic care management was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic through closures and active discouragement of in-person care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) broadened access to telehealth (TH) services, effective March 6, 2020, so that Medicare beneficiaries could receive a wider range of services from their doctors without having to visit a health care facility in person. The newly adopted CMS policy to cover TH services for Medicare-eligible patients presents the opportunity to test the hypothesis that diabetes, which incidentally is a significant risk factor for COVID-19 severity, is better managed for those who receive TH services than for those who do not.
