Telehealth News and Market Developments
PR Newswire: Hazel Health Accelerates Growth to Over 3,000 Schools in 14 States, Secures Series C1 Funding (10/27) – Hazel Health, a school-based telehealth program, has expanded to 14 states, reaching nearly 2.5 million students in more than 3,000 schools. This expansion means that more than 10 percent of K-12 students in the states where Hazel Health currently operates now have access to physical and mental health care at school and at home. Hazel Health partners with school districts to provide mental and physical health care services to K-12 students where they are–at school or home. For additional coverage, see Becker’s Hospital Review.
Becker’s Hospital Review: Where Telehealth is Going Next at Kaiser Permanente (10/26) – Kaiser Permanente is creating a "hybrid" or "fluid" model of health care, mixing video visits, remote monitoring and "telesitting" — along with in-person treatment — to give patients care where and how they need it. Becker’s Hospital Review interviews Dr. Edward Lee, executive vice president of IT and CIO of the Permanente Federation, to see how the health system is taking the lessons it learned from telehealth's skyrocketing use during the pandemic to shape its care now.
Fierce Healthcare: Hospitals Share Their Telehealth and Other Priorities for Lame Duck Session in Congress (10/26) – Hospital groups are seeking more financial relief from Congress in the short lame duck session next month, as well as passage of reforms to prior authorization and extensions of rural hospital programs. The American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) sent separate letters to congressional leadership this week seeking several priorities, including telehealth. The FAH’s letter emphasizes that telehealth has proven to be a critical and value-added component of the health care delivery system.
News10: EMS agencies Use Telehealth to Avoid Unnecessary Hospital Visits for Patients (10/26) – New York emergency medical services (EMS) uses telehealth to avoid unnecessary hospital visits for patients. The New York EMS partnered with UCM Digital Health, which allows emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics to assess the situation before connecting the patient with a doctor. The usage of telehealth has cut down wait time at the hospital.
Politico: Why Medicaid is Blocking Patient Home Monitoring (10/26) – Many state Medicaid offices are stymieing the use of remote patient care, refusing coverage for low-income residents who suffer from chronic diseases at higher rates than Americans with private insurance. While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has some reimbursement codes for remote monitoring, states have broad discretion to set their own rules. Around 20 state Medicaid programs don’t reimburse for remote patient monitoring, according to data from the Center for Connected Health Policy. Several states that pay for remote monitoring have stringent restrictions around its use.
The Harvard Crimson: Hundreds of Students Have Registered for New Telehealth Counseling Platform, CAMHS Director Says (10/26) – Roughly two weeks after Harvard introduced a new telehealth counseling program, nearly 400 students have registered for the online platform. More than half of students who registered for the service are between the ages of 23 and 29. Thirty-seven percent of the students registered for TimelyCare are Asian or Asian American students, while 29 percent are White, and 10 percent are Black.
Politico Pro: Critical Intervention Needed for Remote Care (10/26) – Large health systems are investing big money to provide more health services at home — everything from post-operative care to treatments for chronic disease. But even as successive administrations have touted remote patient monitoring programs as a key to improving health and reducing unnecessary government spending, state Medicaid offices remain an impediment to scaling them nationally, refusing coverage for low-income residents who suffer from chronic diseases at higher rates than Americans with private insurance. Many states have declined to pay for them, in part because the upfront legwork and bureaucratic headaches can be stifling to officials who deal in yearly budget cycles and rarely get credit for savings decades down the road.
Healthcare IT News: HIMSS Promotes Key Policies on Telehealth Expansion (10/25) – HIMSS called on health care stakeholders to get involved in two initiatives to help expand access to quality care for underserved and at-risk populations. The first is focused on protecting access to care via the telehealth flexibilities that have enabled broad expansion and uptake of virtual care since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, HIMSS is in support of the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act of 2022 (H.R. 4040), which was passed by the House of Representatives by a wide margin this past July but has stalled in the Senate.
Forbes: Diabetes and Remote Patient Monitoring: Challenges and Solutions (10/25) – Diabetes management has always been a challenge, not just for the patients but also for the physicians and health care staff who offer remote patient monitoring (RPM) for individuals. Prabhat Sharma, cofounder and CEO of FitPeo Inc, a remote care platform, shares solutions to common challenges patients face when using home monitoring devices for diabetes.
Federal Times: Telehealth Options to Stay in 2023 Federal Employee Health Plans (10/25) – As federal employees prepare to make their selections for next year’s health insurance benefits, some may wonder whether telehealth services, made especially popular and necessary by the COVID-19 pandemic, will stick around. All federal employee health benefit carriers are continuing initiatives that expanded during the pandemic related to telehealth. Telehealth plays an important role in promoting health equity for working families who may not always be able to leave the office for an appointment.
Employees Benefits News: How Cove is Using Telehealth to Help Employees Manage Migraines (10/25) – Cove, a platform that treats migraine, provides telehealth medications management services and works with patients one-on-one to build a holistic treatment plan. Fifty percent of employees with migraines point to it as the leading cause holding them back in their career, and 30 percent have turned down career opportunities because of their concern around how migraines would impact their performance at work. Telemedicine reduces the gaps in accessing headache specialists or specialty migraine care for employees.
Politico Pro: Medicare Beneficiaries with Disabilities Are Likely to Continue Using Telehealth (10/24) – Advocates for people with disabilities are pushing Congress to extend pandemic rules permitting Medicare beneficiaries to more easily use telehealth. Eased telehealth rules under the COVID-19 public health emergency reduced the burden of traveling to doctors’ offices. However, advocates want policymakers to expand broadband access and strengthen nondiscrimination protections to make sure patients can access telehealth when it is the best option.
Medscape: Can Telemedicine Close the Endocrinology Access Gap? (10/24) – Dr. Richard Plotzker, a retired endocrinologist of Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia Hospital, highlights that physicians have always decided what care was best for their patients. Patients and physicians should discuss telehealth and its appropriateness for the patient's care together as it provides a step toward standardization. Each practitioner should be allowed to pursue telehealth on their own comfort level. To get maximum benefit for these people and many others, an investment needs to be made to identify what the best practices of telemedicine actually are.
Forbes: What’s Next for Telemedicine, And How Do We Get There? (10/24) – The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the paradigm of health care. Telehealth and remote patient monitoring has the potential to change the health care landscape. This article reviews reports and studies that have found similar things – telehealth and remote patient monitoring can be elements of the full spectrum of care options.
Healthcare IT News: RPM Leads to Early Detection of Stroke-Risk Blood Pressure at Boston Medical Center (10/24) – Dr. Christina Yarrington, Chief of Maternal Fetal Medicine at Boston Medical Center, explains how remote patient monitoring technology improves care during a very sensitive time in a woman's life. Postpartum hypertension is a leading cause of postpartum hospital readmissions and severe maternal morbidity, since it can lead to heart attacks and strokes, which makes it vital to monitor blood pressure closely and then be able to leverage data from blood pressure readings. Remote patient monitoring has allowed the Medical Center to intervene faster and prevent adverse outcomes.
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