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News and Reports
Kaiser Family Foundation: (6/22) – KFF released a new issue brief on state efforts to expand Medicaid coverage and access to telehealth in response to COVID-19. The issue brief highlights the broad flexibilities states have in determining whether and how to cover services delivered via telehealth including to populations that can receive services via telehealth, services and payment rates, the types of providers that can deliver services via telehealth, telehealth modalities allowed, and managed care flexibilities.
Becker’s Hospital Review: (6/22) - Paul Rothman, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, discussed the future of telehealth during a June 22 virtual conference. He expects 30 percent of in-person patient-doctor visits to shift to telehealth following the coronavirus pandemic.
mHealthIntelligence: (6/22) – Eighty-eight percent of a roughly 2,000 person survey say a “specialized remote health monitoring device” would help them manage their health at home, and about 75 percent said they’d use such a device it were given to them by their doctor.
HCP Live: (6/22) – More than half (54.7%) of primary care specialists in a 1,300-plus survey expressed desire to continue using telemedicine and other remote services very frequently at the end of the pandemic.
Idaho Press: (6/22) – Idaho Governor Little signed an executive order (EO) making all of the waivers of telehealth regulations issued during the COVID-19 pandemic permanent. The changes will go before the Legislature for review when lawmakers convene in January.
VA Vantage Point: (6/22) - Michael Novielli, a veteran and former U.S. Marine during the late 1960’s describes his experience with COVID-19 and telehealth. He also uses remote patient monitoring technology to monitor his blood pressure at home. “It was the best move I ever made,” said Novielli.
Becker’s Hospital Review: (6/23) - Minneapolis-based M Health Fairview announced they will expand their telemedicine hub pilot to local homeless shelter for patients who need mental health and addiction therapy. Originally intended to decrease patients' exposure to COVID-19, the telemedicine hubs will continue after the pandemic because their central location allows patients to cut travel time and miss fewer appointments, said Dr. Levine, a psychiatrist and family medicine provider who helped launch the effort.
mHealthIntelligence: (6/24) – Telehealth programs across the nation also addressing the needs of students stuck at home – many for mental health counseling. For some, the school nurse was the student’s only access to healthcare pre-pandemic. Nurses are shifting to school-based telehealth programs to continue to meet the need.
Health Payer Intelligence: (6/24) – PwC’s 2021 medical cost trend report found that while mental healthcare utilization and specialty drug spending will increase healthcare spending in 2021, the increase may be mitigated by widespread telehealth adoption and narrower networks.
STAT News: (6/25) – While we have heard a lot about the rapid uptick in both patient and provider use of telehealth, the implementation to support telehealth takes both resources and expertise, of which some practices may not have. These barriers may explain recent findings that the use of telemedicine is now steadily declining.
Healthcare Dive: (6/25) – Three healthcare Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) reflect on their rapid implementation of telemedicine – and why they wish they would have moved faster.
Healthcare Finance: (6/25) - The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation this week donated $1 million to support the Massachusetts-based Community Care Cooperative's campaign to increase telehealth capacity, training and infrastructure for its network of health centers throughout the state.
mHealthIntelligence: (6/25) – A Chicago health system launched a telehealth program using an mHealth wearable to remotely monitor staff and patients at high risk of being infected by the coronavirus.
Becker’s Hospital Review: (6/25) – According to a survey of almost 800 gastroenterology and hepatology patients and their physicians, 67 percent of both patients and physicians considered video and telephone appointments held during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic as positive and acceptable substitutes to in-person visits. In addition, 61 percent of patients 60 and over said the telemedicine visit was good/better than traditional visits.
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