Although the concept of telehealth has existed for decades, it’s been relatively slow to catch on. Getting patients to feel comfortable with the idea of online care—and finding medical professionals who felt confident about conducting their work in a remote setting—has not been easy. Even with willing participants and infrastructure in place, bureaucratic red tape meant providers faced an uphill battle when it came to legally treating patients and being reimbursed for their virtual care.
As
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Medicare Insurance| Regulatory, Policy, Patients Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Addressing Loneliness and Social Isolation in the Medicare Population
In recent years, the healthcare industry's understanding of social determinants of health (SDoH) and their impact on patient outcomes has grown dramatically. Researchers and practitioners now recognize that social isolation and loneliness fall under the SDOH umbrella. In response, many payers and providers are exploring initiatives to address social isolation among members and patients.
The health effects of social isolation and loneliness are costly and harmful. According to Health
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Deploying a Telehealth Strategy to Mitigate the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
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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Puerto Rico’s First Home Delivery Pharmacy Launches During COVID-19 Crisis
What You Need to Know:
- Pharmacy benefits manager Abarca and Triple-S Salud announced the launch of Triple-S en Casa, Puerto Rico’s first prescription home delivery program during the COVID-19 crisis.
- Developed in partnership with one of the Island's largest health plans and pharmacy networks, Triple-S en Casa lets consumers manage and order their prescriptions through an easy-to-use mobile app--and have them delivered by a local pharmacy.
Pharmacy benefits manager Abarca and
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COVID-19 Pandemic: Prevent the Oncoming Medical Information Crisis
“You only know who is naked when the tide goes out,” Warren Buffett famously said of the nation’s businesses when markets tank. For the nation’s information systems, the opposite is true. You see their weaknesses when they are inundated by a tidal wave of data.
A case in point is the information infrastructure of the American healthcare system, which will play a critical role in understanding and battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Just as the capacity of some national health systems have been
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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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Charges for All Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients May Reach Up to $1.4 Trillion
What You
Should Know:
- FAIR Health brief finds the total costs for all hospitalized COVID-19 patients range from a low of $362 billion in charges and $139 billion in estimated allowed amounts to a high of $1.449 trillion in charges and $558 billion in estimated allowed amounts, depending on the incidence rate of the infection in the US population.
- The total average charge per COVID-19 patient requiring an inpatient stay is $73,300 and the total average estimated allowed amount per
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AMA Launches Virtual Panel Discussion on Telemedicine Amid COVID-19
What You Should Know:
- The American Medical Association launches a virtual panel discussion today focused on telemedicine and COVID-19.
- The discussion is hosted by the AMA’s Physician Innovation Network (PIN), an online networking community of physicians, digital health companies and entrepreneurs.
The American Medical
Association is helping mobilize a dramatic increase in the nation’s telemedicine capacity
through its advocacy on Medicare policy changes
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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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Coronavirus Drives Teladoc’s Daily Virtual Medical Visits Up 50%
What You Need to Know:
- In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Teladoc Health reports that its daily virtual medical visit volume has spiked 50% over the prior week.
- Teladoc Health has provided approximately 100,000 virtual medical visits to patients in the United States in the past week.
Virtual
care provider Teladoc Health
announced that the company is experiencing unprecedented daily visit volume in
the United States as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues
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