Telehealth News and Market Developments
Humana and Dispatch Health: (2/5) – Humana a health and well-being company, and DispatchHealth, a provider of in-home medical care, announced an agreement to provide Humana members with access to an advanced level of care in the home – to help enhance patients’ experience and health outcomes. The agreement will provide members living with multiple chronic conditions – such as cellulitis, kidney and urinary tract infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and many others – an opportunity to be treated safely at home and thereby avoid hospital visits.
KULR8: (2/5) – State representative Rhonda Knudsen of Montana introduced a new bill to expand telehealth in the state. House Bill 43 would expand the availability of telehealth, permanently rescind regulations that have been waived during COVID-19, and expand the definition of telehealth and types of health plans eligible for services.
Healthcare IT News: (2/4) – The New Hampshire legislature held a hearing on a bill that would roll back provisions safeguarding telehealth coverage in the state. House Bill 602, which was introduced by three Republican state lawmakers, would make changes to telehealth reimbursement limits and would eliminate coverage for audio-only services.
WPTV: (2/4) – Florida policymakers are considering whether to make telehealth flexibilities implemented during the pandemic and recently introduced bills in the House and Senate (SB 660/HB 247) that would remove language preventing audio-only during telehealth visits and allow for the prescribing of controlled substances during a telehealth visit.
Mass Device: (2/3) – Royal Philips recently announced the launch of its Medical Tablet in North America, Europe and Japan. The Philips Medical Tablet is meant to provide remote access to patient data. The goal is to allow health providers to improve workflows and better manage increases in patient volume.
My Champlain Valley: (2/3) – State lawmakers in Vermont are considering the long-term role of telehealth appointments after the pandemic. Lawmakers recently heard testimony from health care workers and advocates about the benefits and limitations of telehealth services, identifying broadband as an ongoing challenge in accessing such services across the state. In 2020, the Vermont Statewide Telehealth Workgroup was created to develop long-term recommendations to address the “digital health divide” and ensure access to telehealth for those with disabilities.
Spectrum News 1: (2/3) – In his State of the State address, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas said that the state should seize the opportunity in the current legislative session to permanently expand telemedicine access so every Texan could benefit. Bipartisan lawmakers in the state have already filed bills in support of this notion, with two bills introduced by Senator Cesar Blanco to permanently continue telemedicine options enacted during the pandemic and one bill introduced by Senator Charles Perry to allow for tele-dentistry.
HIT Consultant: (2/2) – Together with nonprofit, academic, and industry partners, the Telehealth Equity Coalition (TEC) has formed to improve access to quality and affordable healthcare by increasing the adoption of telehealth, especially among those who have been left out or left behind.
WBOI: (2/2) – The Indiana Senate unanimously passed a bill to permanently expand telehealth services that were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. IU Health had over 500,000 telehealth visits in 2020 once telehealth was expanded as a result of the ongoing public health emergency.
Healthcare IT News: (2/1) –EarlySense technology allows for the continuous monitoring – more than 100 times per minute – of patient heart and respiratory rates without anyone ever touching the patient. "The COVID-19 pandemic has created historic opportunities for smart health technologies outside the hospital," says EarlySense's CEO.
Healthcare IT News: (2/1) – The University of Michigan Hospital implemented a patient monitoring at home, or PM@H program, using fully managed device kits prior to the pandemic. The telehealth program has helped the provider organization preserve hospital capacity through multiple COVID-19 surges, while decreasing readmission rates and ED utilization.
Venture Beat: (2/1) – Telemedicine and chatbots are using data to transform health care. “We call it digital primary care,” said Nick Desai, CEO of telemedicine platform Heal. “There is still an irreplaceable value to the human-doctor patient interaction. What we want to do is give doctors data-driven decision support.”
mHealth Intelligence: (2/1) – West Tennessee Healthcare launched a telehealth platform in July 2020 to monitor COVID-19 patients. The program was so successful in improving outcomes and reducing hospitalizations that officials are looking to expand the program from the main hospital to two other hospitals within the health system, and potentially expanding the program to monitor patients with congestive heart failure and COPD in the future.
mHealth Intelligence: (2/1) – Maryland lawmakers are considering bills to expand telehealth access in the state beyond the end of the public health emergency. One such bill, the Preserve Telehealth Access Act of 2021 which was introduced in both the House and Senate, would mandate payment parity, continue coverage for appropriate audio-only telemedicine services, remove originating and distant site restrictions, and expand remote patient monitoring programs to align with state health initiatives that support the Maryland Total Cost of Care Model.
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