August 07, 2014 | Eric Wicklund – Editor, mHealthNews A new Congressional effort seeks to expand telemedicine by allowing Medicare reimbursement for more treatments – and more people. The Medicare Telehealth Parity Act of 2014 was introduced in July by U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson (D-CA.) and Gregg Harper (R-MS). If passed into law, the expansion of telehealth services […]

It’s about time and the way that CMS is going to pay for Remote Patient Monitoring is, essentially, like this….. Services to be covered when provided by telehealth: Chronic Care Management ——————————— CMS is proposing reimbursement criteria for non-face-to-face chronic care management (CCM) services, defined as a unique, covered service designed to pay separately for […]

Is CMS FINALLY going to cover remote patient monitoring?? We may be one step closer… By: Jonah Comstock | Jul 23, 2014 Representatives Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Glenn Thompson (R-Penn.) are set to announce a new telehealth bill soon. Like some of Mike Thompson’s previous telehealth efforts, the bill seeks to amend the Title XVIII of the Social […]

It’s only a matter of time……… By Ephraim Schwartz, Contributing Editor The barriers that stand in the way of full-blown adoption of a modern and mobile remote healthcare system require not only advances in technology but a willingness on the part of the healthcare community to change at an institutional level. There is a palpable resistance […]

…… Eventually someone in government will listen……. June 9, 2014 | By Dan Bowman Saying they want to improve care coordination, several organizations are calling on the federal government to reimburse accountable care organizations for the use of telehealth and remote patient monitoring technologies. In three letters sent today to incoming U.S. Department of Health and […]

The obvious continues to become more obvious…… Friday, June 6, 2014 Doctors who practice in patient-centered medical homes and use electronic health record systems generally provide more recommended care than those who do not work in a PCMH and use paper or electronic records, according to a studypublished in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Health IT Analytics reports (Bresnick, Health […]

The proof is always in the pudding.  How about THIS pudding….. May 27, 2014 | Eric Wicklund – Editor, mHealthNews Hospital systems looking for the value of a home-based monitoring program for discharged patients might be interested in a nine-month project undertaken by North Carolina-based Vidant Health. The health system, a nine-hospital, 70+-clinic network serving some 29 […]

Federal and state legislation on the use of telehealth has been a hot topic for lawmakers over the past year. BY BRIAN HEATON / MAY 20, 20140  The practice of telehealth has increased in recent years as physicians and patients have become more comfortable meeting through video conferencing and other digital means. But as electronic health practices have […]

Last Updated: April 25 2014 Article by Nathaniel M. Lacktman Foley & Lardner Tennessee has enacted legislation requiring commercial insurance payors to cover telehealth services. On April 14, 2014, Governor Bill Haslam signed into law HB 1895/SB 2050. Under the Tennessee law, a health insurance carrier: Must provide coverage under a health insurance policy or contract for covered […]

Published on FierceHealthIT (http://www.fiercehealthit.com) April 7, 2014 | By Susan D. Hall A framework for evaluating telehealth programs must consider socioeconomic aspects–not just the technological–argue researchers in an article published online in Telemedicine and e-Health. Costs, benefits, barriers and outcomes, including clinical outcomes, are among the integral socioeconomic factors at play in telehealth implementations, they say. The framework’s […]

Published on FierceHealthIT (http://www.fiercehealthit.com) The U.S. market for patient monitoring technology–increasingly moving outside the hospital–is expected to grow to more than $5.1 billion by 2020, according to a new report by iData Research. The report points to the growth of multi-parameter vital sign monitors, electroencephalograms (EEG), electromyograms (EMG), cerebral oximeters and pulse oximetry devices in particular for […]

Well, it is now “clear as day” that the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model with home health monitoring solutions, offerred by Dr. Miltie, will result in reduced costs of care, unnecessary emergency room (ER) and hospital visits, and improved population health.  The following report from the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, which partnered with Milbank Memorial Fund to produce the report, illustrates the […]

Here are several telehealth facts: Mortality rate dropped from 13.6% to 11.8% after tele-ICU was implemented, and length of stay in the ICU fell from 13.3 days of 9.8. Journal of American Medical Association 2011 The national average for readmission to hospitals within 30 days following a heart failure episode is 20%. Sandra Tokey, 2009 […]

Remote patient monitoring will ramp up worldwide, largely driven by U.S hospitals working to reduce readmissions and avoid Medicare penalties, says InMedica study. Surf’s up for telehealth, according to a new report from InMedica, a subsidiary of IMS Research. Defining telehealth narrowly as remote patient monitoring (RPM), InMedica predicts that it will be applied to 1.8 million […]

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) strongly supports the Telehealth Enhancement Act, H.R. 3306, introduced by Reps. Gregg Harper (R-MS), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Peter Welch (D-VT). This bipartisan Congressional proposal calls for the adoption of payment innovations to include telehealth and make other incremental improvements to existing telehealth coverage. “We appreciate the […]