Remote patient monitoring will ramp up worldwide, largely driven by U.S hospitals working to reduce readmissions and avoid Medicare penalties, says InMedica study.

Surf’s up for telehealth, according to a new report from InMedica, a subsidiary of IMS Research. Defining telehealth narrowly as remote patient monitoring (RPM), InMedica predicts that it will be applied to 1.8 million patients worldwide by 2017, compared to 308,000 today.

The biggest driver of market growth is the worldwide efforts of governments to curb the growth of healthcare costs. “Readmission penalties introduced by the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are driving…

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) strongly supports the Telehealth Enhancement Act, H.R. 3306, introduced by Reps. Gregg Harper (R-MS), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Peter Welch (D-VT). This bipartisan Congressional proposal calls for the adoption of payment innovations to include telehealth and make other incremental improvements to existing telehealth coverage.

“We appreciate the representatives’ leadership to craft a budget-sensitive package with strategic measures that will improve healthcare accessibility and affordability,” said Jonathan Linkous, chief executive officer of ATA. “These provisions are critical to the future of healthcare in the U.S. in that they will save Medicare and Medicaid…

This article appears in the October issue of HealthLeaders magazine.

In 2012, California’s Center for Connected Health Policy became the federally designated National Telehealth Policy Resource Center, which provides technical assistance to 12 Regional Telehealth Resource Centers nationwide.

Recently, CCHP completed an analysis of all Medicaid policies related to telehealth across 50 states and the District of Columbia. At its website at www.telehealthpolicy.us, visitors can click on the “reimbursement” button and get the latest on related proposals and policies in each state.

“We used a variety of research tools, as well as just getting it…

State Telehealth Laws and Reimbursement Policies – Updated September 16, 2013

Click HERE for the updated legislation and policies.

Vitaphone sponsors a pilot program which demonstrates how remote patient monitoring (RPM) positively impacts a group of Hypertension patients in just 30 days by: Engaging patients with their chronic condition management, reducing the response time interval in real-time by the healthcare provider on their condition status and lastly, improving blood pressure reading results. The overall outcome of the study’s data is proven proof again of the significant success chronic condition patients receive by using RPM devices and services.

Click here to read the full study.

It’s a good sign when the Payors start TRULY examining home telehealth monitoring:

Telehealth is a sophisticated type of technology that enables patients to monitor their own health. This particular technology may incorporate the internet, wireless communication, teleconferencing, streaming media and other unique methods to implement long distance healthcare and deliver health education. Using telehealth may even help to reduce hospital readmission rates. In short, telehealth services incorporate several actions, including diagnosis, treatment methods, monitoring of medical conditions and providing education to patients.

Patients who use telehealth services often have the ability to take their own vital signs using special monitoring devices. They may even complete health surveys provided by the telehealth agency….

Here are several extraordinary studies out of the UK, which clearly reflect the benefits of telehealth.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Monitoring programs collect important patient data, such as vital signs, weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, and electrocardiograms. This data is then transmitted to health professionals in facilities such as monitoring centers in hospitals and intensive care units, skilled nursing facilities, and centralized off-site case management programs.  The health professionals monitor these patients remotely and, when necessary, implement medical services on their behalf.

Monitoring programs help keep patients healthy, allow elderly and disabled patients to live at home and avoid having to move into skilled nursing facilities, and reduce both the number of hospitalizations…

Published on Government Health IT (http://www.govhealthit.com)

By Erin McCann, Contributing Editor

Already this year, some 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, have introduced legislation that would further expand the usage and reimbursement of telemedicine services.

The Maryland state legislature last week gave the green light to legislation that would require the Maryland Medical Assistance Program to provide reimbursement for telemedicine services. The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Catherine Pugh (D-Baltimore), is scheduled for a hearing February 20.

Nebraska legislators also introduced a bill Jan. 23 that would require health insurers to cover telemedicine behavioral health…

It’s sooooo wonderful to see our government going backwards… AGAIN…

And the tremendous growth continues…….

As medical providers strive to cut costs, and medical expenditures set to increase, teleheath use shows promise of increasing.

Manufacturing Group

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

With U.S. medical expenditures set to increase to more than $3.7 trillion in 2017, American healthcare providers looking to cut costs are turning to a communications-based method of monitoring known as telehealth, with the number of patients using such services expected to rise by nearly a factor of six from 2012 to 2017.

The number of American medical patients using telehealth services is set to grow to 1.3 million in 2017,…

More evidence of the growth…

Analysis predicts spike in telehealth patients

By Elise Viebeck – 02/08/13 02:23 PM ET

Efforts to curb rising healthcare costs will cause the use of telehealth technology to spike, a new analysis predicted.

IMS Research, which studies the electronics industry, forecast a nearly sixfold rise in the number of telehealth patients over the next five years. About 1.3 million U.S. patients will use communications technology to interact with doctors by 2017, the firm said.

“The cost of healthcare is a critical issue in the United States, with nearly one of every five dollars’ worth of the country’s gross domestic product…

Now it’s finally time to face the “CMS Reaper.”  It’s a very simple choice, pay the penalties or get a telehealth system and reap the rewards of lower readmissions, no penalties from CMS, more cost savings and improved health outcomes.  You pick!!