Telehealth News and Market Developments
Fairfield Sun Times: (4/8) – CVS Health announced it will now offer its Video Visits through MinuteClinics for patients in Montana. This telehealth offering can be used to seek non-emergency, routine health care and are available 24/7 accessed via mobile device or computer.
Nwswise: (4/7) – A new program offered through the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston offers first responders evidence-based mental health counseling via telemedicine from behavioral health specialists. “Telemedicine allows us to meet patients where they are, and tailor our services to suit this population. First responders are often intense and action-oriented, and so is our program. We provide weekly, evidence-based treatment that is problem-focused,” said Ron Acierno, PhD, professor and vice chair for veteran affairs in the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth.
Politico: (4/5) – An op-ed in Politico urges permanent regulatory changes from DEA and legislative action by Congress for virtual buprenorphine prescribing. To prevent widening gaps in treatment access during the first wave of Covid-19, the federal government took unprecedented and swift action in March 2020 that allowed for technologies like FaceTime and Skype to serve patients via telemedicine in good faith to authors describe. Subsequently, the DEA exercised its enforcement discretion to permit buprenorphine initiation following telephone communication without requiring video technology — as had previously been the case. While these changes were made in response to a new public health emergency, the need to expand telehealth initiation of buprenorphine was long overdue. Telehealth had already been proven effective for managing patients who had already started buprenorphine treatment after an in-person visit – according to the authors.
MPB Online: (4/5) – Like in many states, telehealth has grown significantly in Mississippi since the start of the pandemic. The University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Center for Telehealth has helped connect doctors and patients throughout COVID, increasing telehealth visits to 130,000 over the past year. The center received $1 million from the FCC COVID-19 telehealth program, which helped purchase tablets and other technology so patients can monitor their health and communicate with their doctors.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: (4/5) – Amy Crawford-Faucher, MD, led Allegheny Health Network's efforts by overhauling and formalizing the idea of therapeutic interventions, she told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Like so many physicians and clinicians, Dr. Crawford-Faucher, the medical director for telemedicine at Allegheny Health Network and the vice chair of AHN’s Primary Care Institute, spent last year “completely rethinking and formalizing the way we think about therapeutic interventions” amid a global pandemic that pushed so many to telemedicine seemingly overnight.
Verizon: (4/5) – Verizon Business launches BlueJeans Telehealth, a way for providers and patients to conduct data-driven virtual care conversations. “While the use of telemedicine has been steadily growing for some time now, the pandemic has accelerated telehealth adoption and changed the conversation around what patient care will look like moving forward,” said Tami Erwin, CEO, Verizon Business.
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