Only weeks ago, American doctors’ waiting rooms were bustling with patients of all ages. This was no surprise as it is estimated that in an average year the U.S. healthcare system provided an estimated 278 office-based physician visits per 100 persons, for a total of approximately 883 million visits per year. Chronic conditions were the major reason for 37% of all office-based physician visits, and visits for chronic conditions were predictably higher among adults than children.
In the
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CMS| News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
6 Benefits of Telemedicine in Managing the Diabetes Epidemic
The American Diabetes Association reveals that 9.4% of the American population has diabetes, and with numbers that high nearly all Americans have a friend or family member with the disease. However, many Americans are not aware that telehealth can enable diabetic patients to manage their condition—treatment that would have otherwise been difficult to come by for rural patients with limited access to care.
With such a high prevalence among the population, providing care regardless of proximity
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COVID-19’s Impact on Telehealth & HIPAA Regulations
The declaration of COVID19 as a pandemic and the United States declaring a national emergency to help contain and enhance treatment access have resulted in a number of changes to ease potential regulatory burdens or barriers in healthcare. Like so much happening as a result of the pandemic, the changes have the potential to fundamentally change the healthcare industry not just during the time of the emergency declaration.
Of particular note are coordinated announcements from various agencies
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Vivify Health Launches COVID-19 Screening, Self-Isolation and Monitoring Pathways
What You Need to Know:
- Vivify Health has announced that availability today of new COVID-19 Screening, Self-Isolation and Monitoring Pathways for Vivify+Go mobile solution to providers at non-cost.
- This enables low-risk patients or those with mild symptoms to use their mobile devices to self-screen for COVID-19 by answering a series of questions that follow the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
- The self-screening helps providers scale their
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What Health IT Thought Leaders Say HIMSS20 Would Have Focused On—If It Had Happened
What You Need to Know:
Health IT thought leaders share what HIMSS20 would have focused On—if It had happened.
- Hot topics include health IT to address COVID-19; artificial intelligence; EHR interoperability and usability; and more.
–Kuldeep Singh Rajput, CEO of Biofourmis, Boston, Mass., which provides digital therapeutics that power personalized predictive care
“Remote monitoring platforms and clinical-grade wearables combined with artificial intelligence [AI]-based
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6 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Considerations for Telehealth Providers
As the novel coronavirus outbreak continues, the federal government and commercial health insurers have taken significant steps to increase Americans’ access to treatment and testing. In the past week, the federal government and private insurers have issued a number of guidance documents expanding coverage and payment requirements in an effort to minimize the spread of the virus.
As with any changes in coverage and reimbursement, healthcare providers offering telehealth services should
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Patient Data Liberation: HHS Releases Final Interoperability & Patient Access Rules
What You Need to Know:
- HHS finalizes interoperability rules that will implement interoperability and patient access provisions of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) and support President Trump’s MyHealthEData initiative.
- The ONC Final Rule identifies and finalizes the reasonable and necessary activities that do not constitute information blocking while establishing new rules to prevent “information blocking” practices (e.g., anti-competitive behaviors) by
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Hospital Execs Believe Their EMRs Will Fail to Meet Their Future Needs, Report Finds
What You Need to Know:
- New Sage Growth Partners report reveals more than a quarter (27 percent) of respondents believe their EMR will fail to meet their future needs. COOs are the most pessimistic (67 percent) followed by CEOs (37 percent), and CFOs (34 percent).
- Hospital Technology Forecast 2020 market survey report reveals hospital leaders’ top health IT investment priorities, challenges, and opportunities.
- 35 percent of hospital executives say if they could go back in time,
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Op-Ed: Health Care Is Too Important To Stay The Same
Virtually every business around the globe is contending with how to improve the consumer experience in an era of digitization. We live in a world where you can calculate the fastest route to your destination, order dinner to be delivered, have groceries loaded into your fridge, and livestream content from around the world – all from the palm of your hand. So why have we not seen the same strides in health care?
In part, because of the inability of patients to access and control their own
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Benefits of Store and Forward, or Asynchronous Telehealth Solutions
An introduction to asynchronous, or store-and-forward, as a modality of telehealth
As our healthcare system continues to innovate in order to meet demands and improve the delivery of value, various telehealth solutions have emerged and been implemented to increase efficiency, access to, and quality of care. Telehealth is a broad term encompassing “a collection of technology-based means or methods to enhance healthcare delivery and education.” As defined by the National Telehealth
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