Telehealth News and Market Developments
Modern Healthcare: (2/26) – Cigna's MDLive acquisition could foster virtual-first plan development, analysts say. The acquisition could help the insurer accelerate the development of its inaugural virtual-first plan, which it has noted as a potential growth area. MDLive has said it plans to "double down" this year on virtual primary care, a service it launched for health plans and employers last year.
WTVQ ABC36: (2/25) – The USDA Rural Development Kentucky announced over $2 million in telemedicine and distance learning investments across the state. As part of this grant, four telemedicine projects will help improve health outcomes in rural areas.
Inside Health Policy: (2/24) – Providers say CMS should continue to reimburse audio-only telehealth services after the public health emergency ends in order to ease health care inequities, but some policymakers and patient advocates still raise questions about the quality of care and potential for fraud with audio-only visits. AAMC and other provider organizations have found that older patients with a lack of digital skills, patients in rural areas without access to broadband, and lower-income patients without video-capable devices tend to benefit the most from audio-only services.
Microsoft: (2/24) – Microsoft is introducing new Microsoft Dynamics 365 patient access features to streamline virtual experience for patients by allowing more flexibility in self-scheduling both virtual and in-person appointments through their existing patient portal and integrating virtual health assistants. The first update will be available in April, including new features for virtual health, continuous patient monitoring, and care coordination, and support for eight new languages.
Alio: (2/24) – Alio announced the completion of the first pilot study in the series with partner, Intermountain Healthcare that will look at how chronic kidney disease and dialysis patients might benefit from remote monitoring. “Alio’s SmartPatch gives providers real-time clinical metrics to keep patients stable and realize savings by avoiding costly hospitalizations, missed dialysis treatments and reducing fluid overload in a value-based care model.”
CATO Institute: (2/23) – The “Telehealth Modernization Act” overlooks the main obstacle to modernization – licensing. The major obstacle that blocks patients from this great technological advance in 21st-century medicine: state licensing laws prohibit patients from receiving care from health practitioners licensed out‐of‐state. And while many states temporarily suspended these laws for the course of the public health emergency, things will return to the status quo ante when the emergency ends.
mHealthIntelligence: (2/23) – Two popular telehealth bills that failed to make it through last year’s Legislature were reintroduced this week. The Telehealth Modernization Act, supported by the Alliance for Connected Care and the Telehealth Response for E-prescribing Addiction Therapy Services (TREATS) Act are both aimed at putting telehealth front and center as Congress looks to set the healthcare landscape beyond the public health emergency.
Healthcare IT News: (2/22) – Heritage Clinic, a behavioral health provider, gave tablets to help patients connect with their clinicians and with their families. The effort enables measurable improvements in mental health.
Greater New York Hospital Association: (2/22) – In its recent webinar on Telehealth in Academic Medicine, the Greater New York Hospital Association provided a faculty development opportunity for those in graduate medical education (GME) leadership positions. Speakers from Stony Brook Medicine described efforts to implement telehealth education into GME and its Tele-Preventive Medicine Service initiative, which trains residents on how to address gaps in care using video visits.
VectorCare and Life365: (2/22) – VectorCare, a patient care logistics company, and Life365, a remote patient monitoring company, announced a partnership to expand and accelerate the deployment of digital health solutions for healthcare organizations.
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