This letter to the editor appeared in The Columbus Dispatch.

The Buckeye Institute agrees with Wednesday’s Dispatch editorial that increased access to telehealth has been especially valuable to Ohioans during this pandemic and there is no reason for access to care to be reduced once the pandemic ends.

As Buckeye has long said, telehealth expands access to health care providers — particularly for Ohioans living in rural areas — and should be permanently adopted in Ohio.

But Ohio shouldn’t stop there. More can be done to expand access to critical health care.

Telehealth access, along with reforms that reduce employment barriers for advanced practice registered nurses, allow pharmacists to provide the medical care they are trained to provide and recognize out-of-state licenses for medical professionals are smart policies that should be permanently adopted.

The Dispatch is right that “It shouldn’t take a pandemic to highlight the need for better rural health care access, and heightened attention to shoring up that weakness must not be forgotten when this crisis finally subsides.”

James B. Woodward
Buckeye Institute
Columbus