The use of telehealth skyrocketed during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to greatly limited in-person health care clinic visits, including those for primary care. Yet patients needed a way to access primary care services, whether to continue their ongoing care or address physical and behavioral health conditions that were caused or exacerbated by the pandemic. When medical assistants (MAs) were available to telehealth teams during the pandemic, their roles in promoting clinic efficiency and care quality were recognized.

This report examines the roles of MAs in the use of telehealth to deliver primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic.