ASGE Policy Statement on Telemedicine

Telemedicine enables convenient timely patient access to established physicians or for new consultations and has proven its value as a method of health care delivery. These services have become widely covered by health plans including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for federally insured program beneficiaries, and supported by employers in self-funded plans, as a way to facilitate services with fewer barriers and equivalent quality. Indeed, many patients find telehealth equally or more preferable to in-person visits, as they can minimize time away from work, avoid transportation costs and hassles, and have more flexibility to involve family members or caregivers in their health care encounters.

The ASGE recognizes continuation of policies to promote audio-video and audio-only telehealth will fill a large need. Thus, the ASGE will support and advocate for proposals that:

• Preserve a health care professional’s ability to determine if a clinical situation is appropriate for telehealth or requires in-person care for both initial and established patient visits. Preserve the professional’s ability to utilize office or equivalent facilities from other sites to connect virtually to patients at home, office or other equivalent sites where privacy of the interaction can be maintained.
• Maintain maximum flexibility in the use of telemedicine for the benefit of patients that may not have access to it such as allowing physicians and patients the flexibility to choose among easily accessed HIPAA-compliant applications but with exceptions if circumstances require alternative communications platforms.
• Maintain reimbursements for audio-visual and audio-only evaluation/management services at parity with in-person visits, in recognition of the equivalent resource costs, professional expertise, and effort required in providing telehealth services.
• Improve access to telehealth for patients across diverse settings and geographic areas, including addressing disparities that may limit the ability to access broadband services which support telehealth to the extent infrastructure or patient ability to utilize simple smart-device audio-visual links are not feasible, this includes the recognition of telephone-only (audio-only) services as equivalent to video visits.
• Broaden coverage and reimbursement of telehealth to facilitate improved communication between professionals for the care of specific patients whose care they share, such as provider-to-provider communication (i.e. inter-professional consultations)
• Facilitate the ability of health care professionals to provide telehealth services across state lines.
• Support clinical research and data to assess the trends of volume, health care outcomes, patient and professional satisfaction which in turn help shape future policy changes.

Approved by Governing Board in 2020

Updated by Reimbursement and Health and Public Policy Committees
Approved by the Governing Board May 2025