Telehealth News and Market Developments
Fast Company: What's Holding Telemedicine Back? (10/23) - Telehealth is capable of bringing doctor-patient relationships into the 21st century. Licensing and credentialing limitations, rapid regulatory movement, and general resistance to change are still significant barriers holding back telehealth. Eradicating these barriers is more than a dollars-and-cents issue—it would save lives. Telehealth companies and their leaders need to chip away at the institutional biases and norms that maintain the barriers mentioned above by taking control of the conversation. Consumers need increased access to quality health care and more-frequent interactions with health care providers. Telehealth makes this possible, and regulators need to take it seriously as a part of the health care experience they shape for hundreds of millions of people.
GNC Health: GNC Expands into Virtual Health Care with GNC Health (10/23) - GNC announced the expansion of its virtual health care service, GNC Health. GNC Health now offers membership plans for individuals and families with three tiers-- Basic, Plus, and Premier-- becoming a nationwide service that makes proactive wellness more accessible and helps consumers Live Well. With a GNC Health membership, individuals and families can schedule free and convenient virtual medical appointments from the comfort of their own homes with board-certified doctors for many common health conditions at no additional cost. GNC Health supports a wide range of treatment and care needs such as, allergies and asthma, sexual health, skin conditions, cold and flu, physical therapy, mental health therapy, and more. For additional coverage, see mHealth Intelligence.
Health Leaders: Military Health System Commits to Telehealth Expansion (10/20) - The US Defense Department’s health care department is dealing with a shortage of mental health providers and a lack of access for military members, veterans, and their families who need mental health care. To improve access, the Military Health System is replacing its Video Connect program with a hybrid platform developed by Amwell and Leidos that will support virtual and digital health tools as well as in-person care. The rollout of the $180 million ‘Digital First’ program will come in stages over the next two years.
American Hospital Association: Expanding Patient Access to Care No Matter Where They May Be (10/20) - President and CEO of AHA, Rick Pollack released a blog highlighting how telehealth has helped connect patients virtually without the necessity of in-person visits. This has been a revolutionary development in health care delivery. The AHA recently wrote House and Senate leaders urging lawmakers to realize the full potential of telehealth services by passing the CONNECT Act to remove many of the barriers that currently limit access to care. Making these important flexibilities permanent past their current expiration in 2025 would expand the telehealth to an even greater number of people and provide hospitals and health systems with effective tools to continue to advance health in a fast-changing health environment.
PR Newswire: Telehealth Start Up for Women's Health Care (10/19) - Glenn Gaunt MD, a telehealth startup, announced its launch, offering an option other than traditional health care by providing accessible and convenient health care services to patients from the comfort of their homes. Dr. Gaunt offers specialty services that focus on postmenopausal symptoms, weight loss management, medication supervision, monitoring of chronic conditions, and general women's health issues.
Healthcare IT News: How Care for Cough Can Benefit from RPM (10/17) - New monitoring devices could help reduce staggering costs and improve quality of life for patients with chronic diseases such as COPD, asthma and chronic cough. Healthcare IT News interviewed Dr. Peter Small, chief medical officer at Hyfe AI, a vendor of AI algorithms that arm remote patient monitoring technologies, including for cough tracking, to talk about these very issues.
mHealth Intelligence: Using Telehealth to Address Side Effects of Cancer Immunotherapy (10/16) - Duke Health’s telehealth service improved care and lowered hospitalizations among cancer patients with endocrine immune-related adverse events. Established in May 2020 by Afreen Shariff, MD, the service connects Duke oncologists with the endocrine team at the Duke Endo-Oncology Program, a collaboration program between Duke Cancer Institute and the Department of Medicine Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition. The service has undoubtedly proved beneficial at Duke Health, and scaling it outside the institution could help extend much-needed endo-oncology expertise to community cancer centers where most people receive cancer care. But it is impossible without support from health care payers.
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