The Duluth News Tribune runs a letter to the editor from Dr. Sarah Manney is the chief medical information officer at Essentia Health in Duluth…

We didn’t conduct our first virtual visit until mid-March 2020. Within weeks, we were performing thousands per day, peaking at more than 3,500. One year later, we have surpassed 400,000 virtual visits. Further, 80% of our mental health encounters were done via virtual visits this last year. For those patients, when one of the biggest hurdles is simply getting out of the house to seek help, that initial obstacle was rendered obsolete by the accessibility of virtual visits.

We’ve also done more than 100,000 e-visits, which are targeted at 20 of the most common conditions, pushing Essentia’s telehealth encounters in a single year well north of half a million. And this was only the first year; imagine how many more people will benefit from these innovative offerings as they become more prevalent.

Right now in Minnesota, we have a tremendous opportunity to increase that access. We can make permanent some of the temporary advances that occurred because of COVID-19 through bipartisan legislation — specifically, Senate File 1160 and House File 1412. The bills are sponsored by Republican Sen. Julie Rosen and DFL Rep. Kelly Morrison, one of two physicians in the Legislature.

While previous law required patients to visit a health care provider site to access telehealth, this bill would continue to allow providers to deliver telehealth services directly to a patient’s home setting via audio-only telephone calls or secure two-way audio-video services on a tablet or computer. The legislation would allow scheduled visits to be conducted by phone when a patient does not have internet access or the appropriate electronic device.

These care-delivery practices are currently in effect due to COVID-19. But we feel strongly that they should become a staple of 21st century health care, even after the pandemic. They let patients receive treatment that may prevent the worsening of chronic health issues and may reduce potentially avoidable emergency-room visits.