State Telehealth News and Activity
Alameda Health System: AHS Awarded Grant for Telehealth Expansion Project (10/5) – Alameda Health System (AHS) recently received a $316,000 grant to fund a telehealth expansion project that will further the organization’s commitment to providing patients better access to exceptional and equitable care. The one-year telehealth expansion project is comprised of three components designed to grow the capacity and capabilities for telehealth services. The first component includes ten mobile workstations to be installed at Highland Hospital for ambulatory outpatient services. It will enable providers, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other medical staff to provide patient services by video visits. The second project component focuses on increasing inpatient bedside access to the MyAlamedaHealth patient portal via 100 tablets located at Highland, Alameda and San Leandro Hospitals. Lastly, 38 all-in-one kiosk workstations with computers will be made available to patients at the three acute care hospitals and AHS wellness centers.
Seattle Children’s: Neonatal Telehealth Takes Geography out of the Equation to Save Lives (10/5) – Seattle Children’s has more than 20 years of recognition in the telehealth space for the neonatal subspeciality. The hospital has a full telehealth team of 14 neonatologists specially trained for emergencies.
DeseretNews: Intermountain Launches Drone Delivery Services (10/4) – Alliance board member Intermountain Healthcare launched a drone delivery service to deliver specialty medications and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals to customers. Drone delivery service combined with Intermountain’s growing telehealth service offerings is laying the groundwork for care that could eliminate in-person visits while also nixing the need to get to the pharmacy or waiting for a driver to arrive with a needed prescription.
Hawaii Public Radio: New Toolkit Improves Telehealth Education for University of Hawaii Nursing (10/4) – The University of Hawaiʻi nursing programs have created a new telehealth training kit. The Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing received over $130,000 from the Governor's Emergency Education Relief fund. The toolkit trains nursing students and staff in the UH System's five nursing programs to complete a full physical examination using telehealth equipment. Faculty at the UH System nursing programs are currently implementing the telehealth equipment and simulation training.
StateofReform: Bills concerning telemedicine and health care services for minors advance in legislature (10/3) – Senate Bill 1135 advanced in the Michigan Legislature last week. Senate Bill 1135 would require telemedicine services to be covered under the medical assistance program and Healthy Michigan Program (HMP) if those services were provided at or contracted through a distant site allowed in the Medicaid provider manual. The bill would also require reimbursement for these telemedicine services to be contingent upon the availability of federal financial participation for these services in the medical assistance program and HMP, and require that these services be incorporated in rate development for any managed care program that was implemented in the medical assistance program and HMP.
Fox 13: Utah Expands Mobile and Telehealth Mental Health Resources for Kids (10/3) – Mental health services for children are expanding in western Utah with an innovative mobile and telehealth program that brings stabilization services and follow-up visits directly to the family’s home, free of charge. In-person Stabilization Mobile Response (SMR) is expanding to urban and rural counties in Utah’s western region, including Wasatch, Utah, and Juab counties, as part of a partnership with Utah Department of Health and Human Services and Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. The program aims to engage a child’s natural support system during a mental health challenge and keep them in their homes, whenever possible. SMR is now available in 15 of 29 counties statewide.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services: MDHHS Offering 13 COVID-19 Test to Treat Sites With Telehealth Services Across The State (10/3) – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is offering a Test to Treat program at 13 locations across the state that offer no-cost testing and telehealth services. Michigan is the first state to launch this federal initiative at neighborhood testing sites that provide rapid access to no-cost COVID-19 antiviral medications. Test to Treat sites allow individuals to access testing, a health assessment and medication prescriptions all in one visit. Michigan residents who test positive for COVID-19 at these locations will be able to utilize telehealth services on-site. For additional coverage, see mHealth Intelligence.
State Scoop: North Carolina Prisons Add Dentistry to Telehealth Program (10/3) – The North Carolina Department of Public Safety expanded a telehealth initiative to begin offering dentistry services to inmates from afar earlier this month. Inmates at state prisons will soon be able to visit virtually with dentists and learn if their issues warrant a visit to a dental office or if they can be resolved without leaving their facilities. With the purchase of specialized scopes and lenses, officials said they’re hopeful that the addition of dentistry to the decade-old telehealth program will reduce the number of inmates who travel unnecessarily into nearby communities for care.
Healthcare IT News: Telehealth and RPM on the Montana Frontier (10/3) – One Health, a family of Federally Qualified Health Centers in Montana, provides integrated primary care to rural and frontier communities in Montana and Wyoming. Montana Medicaid has been favorable toward telehealth even before COVID, allowing FQHCs not only to be eligible distant site providers, but also allowing for direct-to-patient visits. This shift in policy enabled One Health to pursue a sustainable telehealth model that provided much-needed access to the patient populations who regularly encounter barriers to accessing care. One Health was also awarded $930,000 from the FCC telehealth grant program for remote patient monitoring equipment, mobile devices, cellular data plans and monitoring platform services to provide remote care and monitoring to patients.
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