Telemedicine

By Anton Arbatov

When it comes to billing insurers for professional services, most physicians work one of two ways: either the hospital they serve handles the billing through reassigned benefits (billing rights), or they manage or outsource it themselves. But when a hospital contracts with a telemedicine company with geographically distributed physicians, the best thing for both the hospital and the rendering physician is for the telemedicine provider to manage the process. 

It is not every hospital’s favorite thing to do – to circumvent its established and refined billing operations – but due to federal laws, and the variability of state telemedicine policy across the country, it should be considered a best practice.

Revenue cycle management is the primary form of collecting revenue for most hospitals. As a result, they are rightfully keen to control the processes associated with revenue generation, such as the billing of payors and patients for professional services. 

Hospitals have traditionally used telemedicine as a way to improve specialty care available to patients. Stroke specialists are on-call to assist with life-saving decisions regarding tPA administration in hospitals around the country. TelePsychiatrists remotely fill the role of on-site psychiatric support for emergency departments that cannot staff enough mental health clinicians to meet patient demand. In rural hospitals, tele-specialists bridge the gap across multiple medical disciplines that are nearly impossible to staff in remote locations. Telemedicine is used in hospitals large and small, urban and rural, ensuring patients get the care they need, when they need it. 

[Read more…] about Why Hospitals Need to Rethink Billing in Telemedicine

By Brandy Scaravaglione

Demand for telemedicine is growing among patients who seek virtual care from their doctors. Reports have shown that telemedicine has grown so much in popularity that it will be mainstream within 5-10 years. Providers who do not integrate telemedicine into their practice will be lost in the past. 

So what’s stopping them? Most providers do not know where to begin and do not have time to research options. Below is a list of helpful tips on how to successfully integrate virtual care into your practice and to make sure you are selecting the right telemedicine partner.

1. Customize and set up the technology to meet your needs. What can be daunting to many providers when integrating telemedicine into their medical toolkit is the learning curve that comes with it. Start off with a discovery period so that the practice and telemedicine partner can work together to evaluate and understand the workflow and needs. This includes looking at the practice’s current employee structure, capabilities, patient demographic and areas needing assistance. No practice is the same so creating a customized workflow is key to ensuring a successful long-term partnership with telemedicine.

[Read more…] about 5 Tips to Successfully Incorporate Telemedicine into Your Medical Practice

By Michael Scarbrough

If it isn’t already clear, the headlines are signaling that the era of healthcare innovation is upon us and moving swiftly. Managed Medicaid plans could be losing out on millions of contracted lives (and $$) by lagging in the adoption of digital telehealth resources to improve access to care and patient outcomes. Leveraging an eConsult solution is a proven way to increase access to high-quality care while lowering system cost, and one that will ensure innovation scoring opportunities are not missed. 

Innovation is the new constant

Although the pace of innovation within the healthcare industry has traditionally been slow moving, its clear organizations are increasingly seeking new ways to innovate in order to support value-based care models. The recent partnerships formed between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase, CVS and Aetna, Cigna and Express Scripts, etc, strongly indicate that innovations rooted in providing better care for lower costs are paramount to the success and growth of healthcare.  

In a speech at an Alliance for Connected Care telehealth policy forum in November, CMS Administrator Seema Verma spoke about how “relentless innovation is a crucial driver in creating value across all industries” and that “healthcare innovation is in fact serving as a catalyst to improving quality of care, enhancing access to care, increasing efficiency in the system, and lowering healthcare costs.”

It’s becoming progressively clearer that payers whose ongoing strategies are not placing precedence upon innovation will be left in the dust. Not only will this be costly for access and quality, it can jeopardize Managed Medicaid payers’ chance of re-procuring and expanding contracts.  

[Read more…] about Managed Medicaid Plans Must Adopt Digital Telehealth Solutions to Secure Re-Procurement

By Clint Watts

Over the past few years, the healthcare regulatory complex has been working to support innovation and electronic integration while addressing public concerns like the opioid epidemic. During this same period, Telemedicine has emerged with the potential to fundamentally change the way patients and providers interact. Though they may disagree as to the answer, regulators, enforcement agents, and telemedicine providers are now united in asking how to best prescribe and manage controlled substances remotely. 

The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 (the “Act”) was one of the first attempts to adapt substance control to the digital age. Congress passed the Act to amend the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act and “prevent the illegal distribution and dispensing of controlled substances by means of the internet.” It did so by setting forth a number of requirements that restricted the operation of internet pharmacies and remote treatment programs. Among these, a prescribing provider was required to conduct in-person medical evaluations or otherwise meet one of very few narrow exceptions. Under the Act, “[t]he term in-person medical evaluation means a medical evaluation that is conducted with the patient in the physical presence of the practitioner….” 

[Read more…] about Is Telemedicine Regulation Catching Up with Remote Drug Needs?