U.S. healthcare was gearing up for a rebound that includes telehealth. But then the pandemic surged back. Don’t bother asking Keith Blechman, M.D., when his practice will get “back to normal.” Operations at his Upper East Side plastic surgery practice in Manhattan have shifted so drastically in the months since the COVID-19 pandemic began that […]
Emory Healthcare, like other systems during the pandemic, has leaned heavily on telehealth access. And now, there’s no going back. March 2020 brought about one of the biggest catalysts for care delivery change at Emory Healthcare. Telehealth access, which once was a key tool for the health system mostly on the hospital side, soon became […]
On August 3, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that announces and solicits public comments on proposed policy changes for Medicare payments under the Physician Fee Schedule and other Medicare Part B services provided on or after January 1, 2021. Many of the CMS proposals involve expansion of telehealth services which […]
Sep 10, 2020 Knowing it may be met with some skepticism, the Trump administration Thursday announced a sweeping plan that officials say will transform health care in rural America. Even before the coronavirus pandemic reached into the nation’s less-populated regions, rural Americans were sicker, poorer and older than the rest of the country. Hospitals are […]
The five strategies, laid out in a recent Health Affairs blog, target barriers to telehealth adoption that go beyond reimbursement issues. By Eric Wicklund September 11, 2020 – While federal and state regulators are developing strategies to give telehealth room to grow after the coronavirus pandemic, a recent series of surveys among New York physicians suggests that growth […]
A bipartisan pair of US senators have proposed legislation that would allow certain controlled substances to be prescribed via an initial telehealth encounter and—under certain conditions—expand Medicare reimbursement of audio-only substance use disorder treatment services. The proposed TREATS Act has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and could significantly […]
On August 4, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule to update its payment policies under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for calendar year 2021. The proposed rule was issued in tandem with a presidential executive order, which directed the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) […]
Providence St. Joseph Health team members explained during a recent HIMSS20 Digital presentation how their telehospitalist program helped fill the gap for critical access hospitals. Smaller critical care hospitals may not have the patient volume to justify having a full-time physician for the night hours. This, said panelists during a recent HIMSS20 Digital presentation, can […]
A remote patient monitoring program for babies who’ve had heart surgery has helped reduce infant mortality by some 40 percent, according to the American Heart Association. In a scientific statement published in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers found that an interstage home monitoring (IHM) program, which gives parents mHealth tools […]
The public health emergency (PHE) caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in systemic changes throughout the nation’s health care system. Almost overnight, health systems, providers and the government were forced to collaborate to ‘stand up’ field hospitals, testing sites, and quarantine procedures, while postponing or cancelling certain elective procedures and ceasing in-person encounters. One […]
When Curtis Carlson started having back pain this spring, he tried to put off seeing a doctor. The COVID-19 pandemic was raging, his job at a transitional housing organization in Ukiah, Calif. was busier than ever amid the economic collapse, and a hospital seemed like the last place he wanted to be. But when he […]
On August 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed to permanently maintain some of the COVID-19 temporary expansions to the Medicare Telehealth List and will consider comments on other telehealth expansions. CMS already covered a limited number of medical and mental health services through telehealth. The secretary of Health and Human Services may […]
Telemedicine technology has become essential to healthcare delivery in the COVID-19 era, but concerns remain regarding whether the intimacy and communication that is central to high-quality palliative care will be compromised by the use of this technology. We employed a business model approach to identify the need for system innovation in palliative care, and a […]
We are facing a global healthcare crisis unlike any in our recent history. Within the span of a few short weeks, we saw our lives and practices drastically change. COVID-19 has fundamentally altered how medical care is delivered today and possibly for many years to come. We as clinicians need to rise to the challenge to provide […]
A new bill before Congress aims to increase funding for telehealth expansion programs that target improved broadband connectivity. The Accelerating Connected Care and Education Support Services on the Internet (ACCESS the Internet) Act, introduced this past week by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Cornyn (R-TX), proposes to add $400 million to Federal Communications Commission’s COVID-19 […]
