Telehealth News and Market Developments
Harvard Business Review: The Telehealth Era is Just Beginning (4/17) – When used appropriately, digital health care improves patient health, reduces costs, and makes care more equitable and accessible to anyone with a smartphone. Its use has soared during the COVID era. The authors of this article argue that providers around the world should aggressively strive to tap telehealth’s full potential even after the pandemic ends, and takes readers inside Alliance member Intermountain Healthcare, one of telehealth’s earliest adopters and most effective users in the United States. The authors show how telehealth can reduce expensive and unnecessary trips to the ER, reduce America’s chronic disease crisis, address disparities in care, make specialty care faster and more efficient, and provide access to the best doctors.
Inside Telehealth: Take-Home COVID Tests Create New Telehealth Opportunities (4/14) – The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of take-home COVID-19 tests opens the door for other self-diagnosable tests for strep throat or the flu to be paired with a virtual doctor’s visit and an overnight lab test to confirm the results. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called for coupling a self-diagnosable test with a telehealth appointment and sending another sample to an overnight lab to confirm the result. This method could address about 70 percent of pediatric visits.
AP News: Bipartisan Push on Mental Health Crisis That COVID Worsened (4/13) – Congress and the Biden Administration are working to address mental health and drug problems. One priority includes preserving access to telehealth services that proved its usefulness throughout the pandemic. The Senate Finance Committee is considering increased spending on in-school mental health services, broader use of telehealth for youth and more financial support to train youth mental health workers. Telehealth has become a standard tool for mental health and drug treatment counseling. Lawmakers, particularly in rural areas, are pushing to make telehealth coverage permanent.
Inside Telehealth: Insurers Balk at Proposed Oversight of Telehealth in Essential Health Benefits, But Providers Pleased (4/13) – In December, the Administration proposed refining the non-discrimination policy for essential health benefit plan designs, and raised some potential concerns with the promotion of telehealth. Insurance groups say that telehealth is a critical tool in ensuring access to care and expressed concern that defining those services as potentially discriminatory could undermine the growth of the services. However, providers appreciate that CMS will monitor plan designs that encourage telehealth over in-person care, as those may disadvantage certain populations, and ensure that plan designs that incentivize telemedicine do so in a non-discriminatory manner.
Prism Reports: For Disabled Women of Color, Telehealth Has Been a Pandemic Lifeline (4/12) – Telehealth has allowed members within the disability community to obtain the medical support they need from the safety of their own homes. This is particularly true for Black, Indigenous, and other women of color (BIWOC). In this article, two disabled women of color shared their experiences with telehealth and why it matters to them that access to telehealth services shouldn’t be diminished by the general public’s desire to “return to in-person everything.”
MedCity News: Telehealth Reform Made Care Affordable and Accessible (4/12) – The pandemic was a springboard for innovation, and in the past two years, the rapid growth of telehealth has led to better outcomes for patients. However, many telehealth waivers are set to expire within months after the public health emergency ends. Telehealth has become a great equalizer in a health care system where social and economic disparities continue to affect patient care. It provides an affordable and convenient option for patients, particularly those from underserved communities such as rural areas, elderly and differently-abled people, who may not be able to visit a doctor in person. Congress must provide the Department of Health and Human Services the authority and flexibility to continue all federal telehealth waivers once the administration declares an end to the public health emergency.
mHealth Intelligence: Banner Health Unveils Telehealth Program for Obstetrics (4/11) – Phoenix-based Banner Health has launched a pilot program providing virtual consultations to support obstetrics care in rural communities. The obstetrics telehealth project will connect family physicians with obstetric privileges in rural areas to obstetrics specialists. The consultations may occur over the phone between the two physicians or through a telehealth cart that can be brought to the patient's room, allowing for a three-way virtual conversation. More than 50 percent of rural counties have no hospital-based obstetrics services, and rural hospitals report higher rates of postpartum hemorrhage and blood transfusion during labor and delivery than urban hospitals. Telehealth provides an opportunity to connect specialty practices to rural communities.
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