Telehealth 101 – Basics of Telehealth & Terms Used
This introductory video will provide you with an understanding of some of the different modalities and terms that are frequently used in telehealth and telehealth policy.
ATA urges Congress to strike in-person visit from telehealth rule
The American Telemedicine Association is pressing Congress to repeal a rule in the 2022 Physician Fee Schedule that would require an in-person visit every six months in order for Medicare beneficiaries to receive telehealth services. The ATA submitted detailed comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last week and offered support for CMS’s efforts to […]
CMS Faces Calls to Improve Remote Patient Monitoring Coverage in 2022 PFS
Telehealth advocates are submitting recommendations to CMS to improve coverage for remote patient monitoring services in the proposed 2022 Physician Fee Schedule. By Eric Wicklund September 03, 2021 – With remote patient monitoring projects surging in popularity as a result of the pandemic, telehealth advocates are lobbying the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to improve proposed coverage […]
What Is Telehealth and How Does It Work?
There are services on the internet that let you track COVID-19 in your area or recover from burnout related to COVID. But are these telehealth, telemedicine, or neither? The terms telehealth and telemedicine are often used to mean the same thing, but that’s not exactly accurate. Telemedicine is the use of technology to provide clinical care over distance. […]
New Toolkit Aims to Help Telehealth Programs Negotiate Payer Reimbursement
An organization focused on supporting virtual-first programs has created a toolkit designed to help healthcare providers negotiate reimbursement with third party payers for their telehealth services. By Eric Wicklund October 11, 2021 – An organization focused on assisting healthcare providers with virtual care platforms has released a resource for negotiating third party payer reimbursement. The Payer-V1C Contracting Toolkit is […]
Shift to Home May Be Coming for SNFs as Choose Home Bill Introduced in the House
The need to consider offering at-home services may be accelerating for nursing home operators as the Choose Home Care Act of 2021 was introduced in the House of Representatives on Friday. The bill was first introduced in July in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Todd Young (R-IN). A bipartisan effort, the […]
Telemonitoring Reduces Some Exacerbation-Related Health Care Use in COPD
The study aimed to identify the usefulness of telemonitoring to detect and manage acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD). Telemonitoring can reduce emergency department (ED) visits and exacerbation-related readmissions, as well as acute exacerbation-related hospital days in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a recent analysis out of China. The results also showed improvements in mortality […]
Virtual care with remote monitoring reduces patients’ pain, drug errors: study
Patients monitored virtually after nonelective surgery had significantly reduced pain and greater detection and correction of medication errors, according to researchers at McMaster University in Ontario. The national study, published this week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), analyzed outcomes of post-surgical patients that received care virtually and through remote automated monitoring (RAM). Care included video calls with doctors […]
Landmark Choose Home Bill Introduced in the House
The Choose Home Care Act of 2021 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives early Friday morning. The legislation was previously introduced in the Senate at the end of July. If enacted, the landmark Choose Home legislation would create an add-on payment to the traditional Medicare Home Health Benefit, allowing providers to mix in telehealth, transportation, […]
Many Groups Call on Congress to Expand Telehealth Flexibilities
More than 400 advocacy groups are calling for Congress to act quickly to permanently expand flexibilities for telehealth that could go away after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency expected to run through 2021. The 430 groups sent a letter to congressional leadership underscoring the urgency for action now amid concerns from providers that expanded […]
The American Telemedicine Association Again Leads the Industry Commenting on Medicare Updates to Telehealth Policy
Faegre Drinker professionals Sarah-Lloyd Stevenson, Megan Herber, Nisha Quasba and Libby Baney provide ongoing support to the American Telemedicine Association’s (ATA) policy work. This month, the comment period for the Calendar Year 2022 Physician Fee Schedule (CY 2022 PFS) will close, marking an important regulatory step in how providers will be reimbursed for health care services next […]
13 numbers that show how much telehealth visits cost your hospital
Researchers from Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine conducted a study in August to determine if the costs hospitals pay for telehealth visits differ from in-person visits. Here are 13 numbers that demonstrate their findings: Physicians spent more face-to-face time in virtual visits than in-person visits. Physicians, on average, spent 13.8 minutes in a virtual visit compared to 10.2 minutes when the visit […]
How Remote Patient Monitoring Can Bolster Aging in Place
Digital health is the wave of the future in health care. We’ve heard many times that the COVID-19 pandemic brought telehealth greater popularity—but telehealth can’t do it all. While providers can “see” patients with a telehealth visit, they can’t check and monitor vital signs. The increased use of telehealth during the pandemic exposed some of […]
Senators, FCC Official Parse Ties Between Telehealth, Affordable Broadband
Senators and healthcare IT experts raised concerns this week that many in the United States cannot benefit from the recent boom in telehealth services because of a lack of affordable high-speed internet access across the country. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed so much about how people live their lives, but nothing changed so fundamentally as […]