The historic $900 billion coronavirus (COVID-19) relief package deal that the President signed into law this past weekend – the second largest economic stimulus legislation ever produced by Congress – includes $7 billion in new funding for broadband-related purposes. Most of these funds will go to new programs seeking to narrow the digital divide by […]
The spread of COVID-19 has caused an explosion in telehealth consultation and is catalyzing the use of remote patient monitoring (RPM) thanks to an acceleration of reimbursement from commercial and government health insurers (payers) during the pandemic. Look no further than statistics from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that show telehealth visits during the pandemic surpassed 11 million through mid-September of this year. Before CMS expanded coverage of telehealth for seniors in […]
The $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill signed into law by President Trump Dec. 27 offers Medicare coverage for telemental health and rural hospitals and funding for broadband connectivity, but criticism of the bill remains. The reason: the bill doesn’t extend the emergency telehealth access and the coverage provisions offered early on during the pandemic. Lobbying to make at […]
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau announced Wednesday that it is requesting public comment for Round 2 distribution of an additional $249.95 million for its COVID-19 Telehealth Program; the Round 2 funding comes from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The FCC started the program in March 2020 with $200 million of CARES Act funding in order […]
It’s no secret that telehealth use skyrocketed in the early stages of COVID-19 as both patients and health systems sought to minimize the risk of transmitting the disease. According to data from the EHR vendor Epic Systems, telehealth visits peaked in mid-April, when they accounted for 69% of all ambulatory care visits. This percentage dropped substantially by […]
The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly shifted our ideas about what is possible at home. Many people continue to work from home, others switched to virtual school, and the video chats with friends and family that became common last March remain a regular part of life. The way we think about the delivery of health care has […]
The FCC is seeking advice on how to distribute the second round of its COVID-19 telehealth program, which recently received an additional $249.95 million in funds. The additional funding was finalized Dec. 27 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The money will support the COVID-19 telehealth program, which the FCC established last April to equip healthcare providers with […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has extended the public health emergency surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic until April, extending key waivers for regulations on a variety of topics such as telehealth. The public health emergency declaration was originally scheduled to expire Jan. 21. HHS Secretary Alex Azar extended the emergency Thursday, according to […]
As the new year begins and the nation looks to tackle COVID-19 and move on, telehealth will be front and center in a lot of conversations from the halls of Congress to the patient’s home. By Eric Wicklund January 25, 2021 – Telehealth policy and new methods for connected care will figure prominently in healthcare during 2021, and Xtelligent […]
Remote patient monitoring has finally gone mainstream. After more than two decades of cultivation – from cardiac telemetry to Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuffs and now to wearable devices – the technological progress of remote patient monitoring (RPM) has finally intersected with other trends in medicine such as telehealth (and of course COVID) to make this […]
December 9, 2020 Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority LeaderMcCarthy: The undersigned organizations represent millions of individuals facing serious, acute and chronic healthconditions across the country. Our organizations have a unique perspective on what individuals need toprevent disease, cure illness and manage chronic health conditions. The diversity of our groups […]
[co-authors: Adrienne Peng, and Michelle Fong] As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the United States, states, payers, and providers are looking for ways to expand access to telehealth services. Telehealth is an essential tool in ensuring patients are able to access the healthcare services they need in as safe a manner as possible. In order […]
Weekly / December 18, 2020 / 69(50);1902–1905 Hanna B. Demeke, PhD1; Leah Zilversmit Pao, PhD1; Hollie Clark, MPH1; Lisa Romero, DrPH1; Antonio Neri, MD1; Rhea Shah, MPH2; Kendra B. McDow, MD1; Erica Tindall, MSN1; Naureen J. Iqbal1; Kendra Hatfield-Timajchy, PhD1; Joshua Bolton, MS3; Xuan Le, AM3; Brionna Hair, PhD3; Stephanie Campbell, MPH3; Cuong Bui3; Paramjit Sandhu, […]
The most recent COVID-19 relief bill that was signed into law in December includes $250 million in new funding for the federal COVID-19 Telehealth Program, previously discussed here. The program was originally established in March, at the beginning of the pandemic, to help expand connectivity among patients and providers across the country. Telehealth has played a vital […]
The program will be implemented in four state community locations, including in Alaska, Michigan, Texas and West Virginia. Jeff Lagasse, Associate Editor The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration, has awarded $8 million to fund the Telehealth Broadband Pilot program, which assesses the broadband capacity available to rural healthcare […]