Have you been wondering what telemedicine, telehealth, and telecare mean? Find out now. With the recent practice of social distancing and quarantining due to COVID-19, more medical health practices than ever before have turned to telemedicine, telehealth, and telecare to treat patients and deliver medical advice. Between telecommunication apps and video conferencing tools, patients are […]
ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: We deployed a Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) program to monitor patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon hospital discharge. We describe the patient characteristics, program characteristics, and clinical outcomes of patients in our RPM program. METHODS: We enrolled COVID-19 patients being discharged home from the hospital. Enrolled patients had an app, and were […]
Building off its Hospital Without Walls initiative, it’s offering new flexibilities around telehealth and remote patient monitoring as the country enters “a new level of crisis response,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. By Mike MiliardNovember 25, 202004:50 PM The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Wednesday took several new steps to help U.S. hospitals […]
Remote patient monitoring ecosystems should not be treated in the same way as traditional endpoints, say cybersecurity experts. By Kat Jercich November 24, 202001:00 PM As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to push patients away from in-person care, many health systems have ramped up their remote patient monitoring ecosystems. But with that increase in endpoints […]
The OIG’s Final Rule on changes to the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute creates several new safe harbors that will help providers create and expand telehealth platforms and remote patient monitoring programs. By Eric Wicklund November 24, 2020 – New safe harbors proposed for the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute could help providers expand their telehealth and remote patient […]
CMS released the 2021 physician fee schedule Dec. 1 with expanded telehealth services, remote physiologic monitoring updates and an extension for telecommunications tech supervision. Seven takeaways: 1. CMS clarified its payment policies related to the remote physiologic monitoring services for CPT codes 99453, 99454, 99091, 99457 and 99458, which were finalized in recent years. These services include remote monitoring of weight, […]
The American Medical Association has adopted new telehealth policy positions, the organization announced upon the Tuesday closing of a special five-day virtual meeting. In an email sent to the press Nov. 18, the organization’s media department said the updated telemedicine playbook directs the AMA to advocate with lawmakers and regulators on codifying rules governing coverage, access […]
Only a few patients with COVID-19 pneumonia required hospitalization when they received care in a “hospital at home” (HaH) telemedicine program, researchers at one health system reported. Of nearly 1,500 patients enrolled in the program, 40 required hospitalization and eight needed ventilation; just two patients died, reported Kranthi Sitammagari, MD, of Atrium Health in Monroe, […]
with increasing knowledge about COVID-19, advancements in care are changing the way people recover from the virus — and helping curb its spread. At the onset of the pandemic, the two options for recovery involved either a hospital stay or total isolation at home, leaving many with nothing in between. To help relieve this pain […]
By: Atibhi Mehra and Anirban Panda Over the years, the healthcare sector has made considerable efforts to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach by placing the patient at the heart of the care delivery model. While it takes decades to bring about a meaningful change in a slow-moving industry such as healthcare, , […]
The Federal Communications Commission will open applications Nov. 6 for its $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program, which aims to improve telehealth access for low-income Americans and veterans. The program, which was introduced by the FCC in 2018, will provide up to $100 million from the Universal Service Fund over a three-year period to help providers implement connected care […]
With forethought and the right technology on board, remote patient monitoring can be a good complement to telehealth, allowing physicians to receive data about their patients’ in real time. As the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown kept people at home to avoid getting sick, especially those with chronic health conditions, experts recommended remote patient monitoring (RPM) […]
The 2020 Home Health Final Rule has a “significant change” that home healthcare agencies “should be paying close attention,” according to Aaron Tripp, vice president for reimbursements and financing policy at LeadingAge. During a LeadingAge Coronavirus Update call this week, Tripp noted that although the payment part of the Request for Anticipate Payment will go away next […]
That is a $390M increase in Medicare home health reimbursement, according to a new final rule that also expands coverage of telecommunications tech and keeps the PDGM’s behavioral adjustment. By Jacqueline LaPointe November 04, 2020 – CMS has finalized a 1.9 percent, or $390 million, increase in Medicare home health reimbursement in 2021. The boost in reimbursement is […]