telehealth

Telehealth on the Upswing

A number of recent developments suggest that serving patients with the assistance of telehealth services will become more commonplace in the near future. The Medicare MACRA and MIPS payment programs will include new billing codes for telehealth services, according to regulations published earlier this month. Also earlier this month, the House passed legislation, The Vets Act (H.R. 2123), that would authorize the Veterans Administration to make greater use of telehealth. And when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General recently announced plans to audit Medicaid programs for telehealth payments, it cited among its reasons [...]

iqtsupport2017-11-28T06:00:17-05:00November 28, 2017|Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare regulations|

Pay Issues Slow Telehealth Spread

While most health care organizations and providers intend to make greater use of telehealth in the coming years, the manner and speed with which that use grows is being limited in part by reimbursement issues. A survey conducted for the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives found that About half of the study respondents listed reimbursement as a limitation, noting that some payers have been slow to reimburse telehealth visits and or reimburse at rates that are lower than face-to-face care. Survey participants reported using telehealth in three primary ways: scheduled patient “visit,” on-demand urgent needs, and specialist consultations. Learn [...]

iqtsupport2017-10-12T06:00:27-04:00October 12, 2017|Uncategorized|

MedPAC Meets

The independent agency that advises Congress and the administration on Medicare payment policies met last week in Washington, D.C. Among the issues discussed at the meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission were: the merit-based incentive payment system a unified payment system for post-acute care telehealth a redesign of Medicare’s hospital value incentive program Find the presentations and issue briefs for these subjects and others discussed at the MedPAC meeting here, on MedPAC’s web site.

iqtsupport2017-10-11T06:00:23-04:00October 11, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|

GAO Looks at Use of Telehealth in Medicare, Medicaid

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has examined the use of telehealth services in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In a study that looked at current Medicare practices, sampled Medicaid practices in six states, and consulted selected provider, payment, and patient associations, the GAO evaluated the extent to which telehealth is used in Medicare and Medicaid today, factors that affect the use of telehealth in Medicare, and the degree to which new payment and delivery models might affect future telehealth utilization in Medicare. The report does not offer recommendations. The GAO released its findings in a new report titled Telehealth: Use [...]

iqtsupport2017-07-26T06:00:39-04:00July 26, 2017|Medicaid, Medicare|

GAO Looks at Telehealth

With growing interest in using telehealth, or telemedicine, to serve patients in geographically remote or underserved areas, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, operating under a mandate from the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), has examined potential barriers to the use of this relatively new form of care. Among the barriers it found were cultural issues, inadequate licensure, lack of coverage (and reimbursement) for such services, and access and provider training issues. GAO offered no recommendations for addressing these challenges. Learn more about GAO’s findings by going here to see the report Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring [...]

iqtsupport2017-04-25T06:00:37-04:00April 25, 2017|Uncategorized|

Telehealth May Not Reduce Health Care Costs

Telehealth may increase rather than decrease health care costs, a new study has found. The study, performed by the Rand Corporation and based on a limited sampling of data from California, found that only 12 percent of telehealth doctor visits replaced office visits while the remaining 88 percent of telehealth encounters constituted new demand. The study focused on virtual visits for respiratory illnesses and found that the telehealth encounters often led to office visits and medical tests that increased annual spending on respiratory illnesses approximately $45 for each user. Learn more about the study, its methodology and findings, and reaction [...]

iqtsupport2017-03-16T06:00:12-04:00March 16, 2017|Uncategorized|

A New Approach to Treating the Underserved

Last month Congress passed the Expanding Capacity for Health Outcomes Act. The new law calls for the U.S. Department of Health and Human services to study a New Mexico project that employs distance learning to enhance the ability of the medical community to serve medically underserved areas. Launched by the University of New Mexico in 2003, Project ECHO takes advantage of telehealth techniques to employ medical specialists who consult via videoconference with primary care providers. This approach can be employed to help patients in rural and underserved rural areas and to assist those with limited mobility who have difficulty traveling [...]

iqtsupport2017-02-07T06:00:34-05:00February 7, 2017|Uncategorized|

Public Schools Using Telehealth

Spurred by 18 states that authorize Medicaid payments for telehealth services and another 28 that require private insurers to make such payments, more public school districts are integrating telehealth services into their school health programs. The schools are using telehealth to diagnose minor ailments, monitor chronic conditions, and authorize emergency administration of medicine in the absence of written parental permission. The use of telehealth in some school districts has reduced student trips to hospital emergency rooms and increased the rate at which children with medical problems return to the classroom. Learn more about how schools are using telehealth services to [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-13T06:00:06-05:00January 13, 2017|Medicaid|