Stephanie Sheps | Source | Vice President of Claims at Coverys

The most obvious potential liabilities are the same as those that exist in a traditional in-person treatment setting—failure or delay in diagnosis, as well as the risks posed by failure to follow up, properly document a patient encounter, or refer for more specialized care. Basically, providers' inability to use all senses to assess a patient creates a greater risk of a missed diagnosis in some medical disciplines. In addition to these risks, providers and facilities face cyber security risks related to those interactions, as well as the failure to address issues regarding patients who may not have access to the proper equipment for telehealth.

We are not yet really there, as it is a little bit early in the lifecycle of what are potential suits or suits related to COVID. Not many have been filed yet that are very specific to COVID and that aren't just contextual or pandemic-related. But it takes some time for things to wind their way through the court system. There was one decision in the federal district court in New York, that actually remanded a case that was filed in the federal courts extensively, to bring certain allegations that were federal in nature, but it was remanded back to the states so that it wouldn't have the protections of the PREP Act.