Telemedicine

CMS to Congress: You’re the Impediment to Greater Use of Telehealth

The primary obstacle to Medicare making greater use of telehealth is current laws, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has told Congress in a new report. The report, mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act, outlines the extent of telehealth utilization today, describes its benefits, and suggests potential new and expanded uses for telehelath, but it also notes that Current restrictions on eligible telehealth originating sites appear to be the greatest barrier to preventing the expansion of Medicare telehealth services.  The two most significant Medicare restrictions are:  1) requiring the originating site to be located in certain types of [...]

2018-11-20T06:00:23-05:00November 20, 2018|Medicare, Telehealth|

A New Twist on Telehealth

Residents of urban areas often have the same access-to-care problems as rural residents, although the latter receive far more attention. So concludes a new report published on the Health Affairs Blog. According to the analysis, urban and rural residents have similar access problems – and among urban residents, the problems in some instances are even greater.  One distinction: …while rural America has access problems because there are not enough doctors, urban America has access problems because there are not enough appointments. One potential solution to this problem, the report suggests, is focusing on access instead of geography and making telehealth [...]

2017-10-17T06:00:14-04:00October 17, 2017|Uncategorized|

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 [...]

2017-04-25T06:00:37-04:00April 25, 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 [...]

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