A bipartisan pair of US senators have proposed legislation that would allow certain controlled substances to be prescribed via an initial telehealth encounter and—under certain conditions—expand Medicare reimbursement of audio-only substance use disorder treatment services. The proposed TREATS Act has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and could significantly […]
On August 4, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule to update its payment policies under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for calendar year 2021. The proposed rule was issued in tandem with a presidential executive order, which directed the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) […]
Providence St. Joseph Health team members explained during a recent HIMSS20 Digital presentation how their telehospitalist program helped fill the gap for critical access hospitals. Smaller critical care hospitals may not have the patient volume to justify having a full-time physician for the night hours. This, said panelists during a recent HIMSS20 Digital presentation, can […]
A remote patient monitoring program for babies who’ve had heart surgery has helped reduce infant mortality by some 40 percent, according to the American Heart Association. In a scientific statement published in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers found that an interstage home monitoring (IHM) program, which gives parents mHealth tools […]
The public health emergency (PHE) caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in systemic changes throughout the nation’s health care system. Almost overnight, health systems, providers and the government were forced to collaborate to ‘stand up’ field hospitals, testing sites, and quarantine procedures, while postponing or cancelling certain elective procedures and ceasing in-person encounters. One […]
Over the past five months, Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have dramatically, but temporarily, expanded coverage and reimbursement for telehealth services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes are in effect for the duration of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Public Health Emergency (PHE). As there are significant […]
On August 3, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13941 (the “Executive Order”) which expands access to certain telehealth services post-pandemic. The Executive Order focuses on telehealth access for individuals living in rural areas and implements the following mechanisms: The Secretary of HHS is tasked with developing a new model that will give rural providers flexibilities from […]
When Curtis Carlson started having back pain this spring, he tried to put off seeing a doctor. The COVID-19 pandemic was raging, his job at a transitional housing organization in Ukiah, Calif. was busier than ever amid the economic collapse, and a hospital seemed like the last place he wanted to be. But when he […]
On August 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed to permanently maintain some of the COVID-19 temporary expansions to the Medicare Telehealth List and will consider comments on other telehealth expansions. CMS already covered a limited number of medical and mental health services through telehealth. The secretary of Health and Human Services may […]
Telemedicine technology has become essential to healthcare delivery in the COVID-19 era, but concerns remain regarding whether the intimacy and communication that is central to high-quality palliative care will be compromised by the use of this technology. We employed a business model approach to identify the need for system innovation in palliative care, and a […]
We are facing a global healthcare crisis unlike any in our recent history. Within the span of a few short weeks, we saw our lives and practices drastically change. COVID-19 has fundamentally altered how medical care is delivered today and possibly for many years to come. We as clinicians need to rise to the challenge to provide […]
A new bill before Congress aims to increase funding for telehealth expansion programs that target improved broadband connectivity. The Accelerating Connected Care and Education Support Services on the Internet (ACCESS the Internet) Act, introduced this past week by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Cornyn (R-TX), proposes to add $400 million to Federal Communications Commission’s COVID-19 […]
Rightfully so, the coronavirus pandemic has shone the spotlight on front-line medical professionals who continue to risk their lives treating patients. In the background and often working from home, though, are billing professionals whose jobs increasingly provide critical revenue for medical facilities, from single physician practices to multi-hospital health systems. The American Hospital Association estimated […]
The need for virtual treatment in the midst of this pandemic is primed to rewrite the rulebook on health for years to come. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent nation-wide lockdowns, telehealth has been rewriting all the rules on the way healthcare has historically been conducted. Virtual health visits shot up 50% in […]
Not even six months ago, telemedicine served as a supplement to a hospital’s digital strategy. It was more of a novel offering, considered a nice-to-have or an add-on — not the norm — only used under rare and extraordinary circumstances. Of course, that was before a pandemic turned life, as we know it, on its […]