Telehealth News and Market Developments
Health Leaders: Telehealth Bridges Gap in Women’s Healthcare (1/28) – While progress has been made in closing the gender health gap in recent years, the telehealth industry has the potential to lead the way toward more comprehensive care for women. Rachel Black, founder and CEO of Allara, a telehealth provider specifically for women’s health care, sees Allara’s potential to connect women to expert specialists who they currently may not have access to and increase access to specialty care for more complex, ongoing health needs.
Fierce Healthcare: MDLive rolls out virtual-first health monitoring program for chronic conditions (1/27) – As telehealth companies increasingly turn to chronic care management, Cigna’s MDLive is launching its own remote patient monitoring program which will allow patients with chronic conditions to track biometrics like blood pressure and glucose levels, recording daily health information that they can review with MDLive providers during their visits. Remote monitoring deepens the partnership between MDLive primary care providers and patients, giving them greater insights into the critical daily health data that can be an early indicator of a serious medical issue.
mHealth Intelligence: In New FCC Funding Round, 100 Providers Get $48M to Advance Telehealth (1/27) – The Federal Communications Commission is providing $47.89 million in new funding to 100 health care organizations with the aim of boosting telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency approved 100 applications for funding submitted to its COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which was set up to help providers offer connected care services to patients in their homes or at mobile locations in response to the public health emergency. A complete list of approved providers and the funding amounts they received can be found here.
Stat News: Out with FaceTime, in with one-stop-shops: Hospitals scrap telehealth stopgaps for more streamlined platforms (1/27) – The pandemic allowed providers to use less secure apps designed for consumers to conduct telehealth appointments, however large health systems are ditching those stopgap fixes in favor of fewer but more complex, expensive, and customizable tools that can toggle between video visits, lab results and scheduling — and host hundreds of thousands of video and audio visits each year. This consolidation effort in hospitals may cost some telehealth companies to lose their customers.
Healthcare IT News: Behavioral health and telemedicine: What's in store for 2022 (1/26) – Telemedicine technology can connect rural patients to psychiatrists in urban hubs. According to Eric Meier, a mental health technology expert, there will be a broader adoption of behavioral health IT solutions in 2022, particularly in measurement-based care technology. Data derived from a robust measurement-based care platform that gathers and analyzes outcomes data will provide the necessary information that is needed to truly understand how well a provider is performing in managing their population's health. In this interview, Meier discusses where behavioral health is headed and describes how telehealth can help offer wider access to care.
Healthcare IT News: URAC CEO talks virtual care access, tele-mental health, post-COVID regs (1/26) – Telehealth and remote patient monitoring have proven to be not only convenient but necessary tools for patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Shawn P. Griffin, president and CEO of URAC, highlighted that traditional health care organizations and disruptors are using digital health platforms to improve issues including access to care, mental and behavioral health support, and systems focused on wellness.
Fierce Healthcare: Here's why UnitedHealth Group's CMO says virtual care is a 'game changer' to reach underserved populations (1/25) – The COVID-19 pandemic drove unprecedented growth in telehealth visits as patients sought ways to safely access health care. UnitedHealth Group reports that telehealth visits among UnitedHealthcare members grew from 1.2 million in 2019 to almost 34 million in 2020. Among Optum patients, telehealth visits grew from 1,000 in 2019 to 1.3 million in 2020. The company continues to explore the best ways to use virtual care and what health conditions are most amenable to being treated via telehealth.
Healthcare Finance: No Surprises Act implementation includes telehealth (1/25) – Under the No Surprises Act, patients treated by an out-of-network physician can only be billed at the in-network rate. For telehealth clinicians, the patient can only be billed the in-network rate. This means that independent physician groups, which include telehealth providers, must now accept a rate that someone else has negotiated. This can incentivize insurance companies to lower the payments to independent physician groups.
Stat News: Telehealth lobbying is soaring to new heights (1/25) – Hospitals nationwide are rapidly increasing their investments in digital health companies to help bankroll the development of novel software and artificial intelligence tools. These equity deals offer a significant source of revenue as well as an opportunity to drive changes in data analysis and the delivery of care. But they also raise the potential for conflicts between a hospital’s financial interests and its commitments to protect patient privacy and deliver optimal care. Additional coverage on this issue can be found here.
Tech Crunch: Telemedicine startups can survive and thrive under renewed regulation (1/24) – Nearly half of all states have ended emergency waivers introduced during the pandemic that allowed patients to be seen by doctors who are licensed in another state. However, increasing demand from Baby Boomers, and diminishing supply from workforce shortages, create an opportunity for digital health to expand. The pressure for some form of regulatory clarity is only likely to increase.
MobiHealth News: Better than ever with a long way to go: The future of digital health reimbursement
(1/21) – The digital health sector had a huge funding year in 2021, with health tech companies scoring nearly $40 billion. In this article, Robert Jarrin, strategic advisor to ResMed Corp., and Brian Scarpelli, senior global policy counsel at the Connected Health Initiative, give a preview of their HIMSS22 presentation on the current digital health reimbursement landscape.
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