Teleconferencing Remains Convenient for Citizens
Months after the federal government officially declared an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Court of Federal Claims is only one of the agencies that have made teleconferencing a regular part of the citizen experience.
According to a MeriTalk survey, nearly 9 in 10 federal IT leaders have taken steps within the past year to make it easier for citizens to interact with agencies. Many now say that work set them up to provide virtual services well into the future.
READ MORE: The VA and other federal medical agencies are expanding their use of telehealth.
Taxpayers, for example, can use Microsoft Teams to meet with the IRS Independent Office of Appeals, and citizens can use the same platform to attend hearings with the Social Security Administration.
Likewise, the Department of Education hosts virtual Federal Student Aid training conferences for financial aid professionals, and nonprofits and private businesses that partner with federal agencies can attend the National Institute of Health’s Federal Environmental Symposium either in person or virtually.
At the start of the pandemic, recalls Dr. Kevin Galpin, executive director of telehealth services in the Office of Connected Care at the Veterans Health Administration, “we made the organizational pivot to say that we would deliver as much telehealth to veterans’ homes as we possibly could.”
The agency took a technology that it had previously used in only a limited capacity — VA Video Connect — and quickly deployed it to veterans and VHA providers across the country. Today, the VHA is on track to host more telehealth encounters in 2023 than it did in 2022, Galpin says.