What You Need to Know:
- Consumer Technology Association (CTA) released a new set of industry-led guidelines on virtual care, convening health tech leaders like Doctor on Demand, Livongo, Validic, and BioIntelliSense.
- The virtual care principles offer core guidelines and practices across patient engagement, standards of care, quality, continuity of care, prescribing and privacy and security.
- While virtual care is not a panacea, in the midst of an outbreak, evaluation, triage and
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Public Health
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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How Health Plans Can Prepare Their Members for Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Any time there are fears of an outbreak, you can be sure of one thing: Purveyors of disinformation will take advantage of these fears by spreading false, often harmful messages.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) is no different, and as what may become the first widespread U.S. public health crisis of the social media era, is likely to be more susceptible to disinformation and conspiracy theories than previous events. For example, some of the more notable falsehoods about COVID-19 include that
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AMA to Fast Track New CPT Code for Novel Coronavirus Test
What You Need to Know:
- AMA announces it will fast track CPT code development for a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) test to bolster a data-driven response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States.
- The CPT Editorial Panel will manage the expedited process including the creation of a test description to accompany the code and the effective date of the code.
- According to the CDC, there is a total of 647 confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 25 deaths in the United
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Using Health IT to Preserve Antibiotics and Fight Drug-Resistance
In its latest report on antibiotic resistance, the CDC revealed that infection rates for many threat pathogens are stagnant or in a nominal decline. While this is promising news, there are still a startling 2.8 million cases of drug-resistant infections predicted this year, which will result in an estimated 35,000 deaths. What’s more, the speed at which some patients are developing resistance to last-resort antibiotics – those that are often reserved for special scenarios and designed
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CareFirst Will Cover Medically Necessary Diagnostic Tests for COVID-19
What You Need to Know:
- CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield announces steps to expand access to coronavirus (COVID-19) care for its members
- CareFirst will waive prior authorizations for diagnostic tests and for covered services that are medically necessary for any members that are diagnosed with COVID-19.
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst) announced it is taking action to ensure that its members seeking testing and treatment for coronavirus can swiftly access the right care in
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Rimidi Launches COVID-19 Screening App to Identify At-Risk Patients & Limit Exposure
What You Need to Know:
- To limit the spread of COVID-19 in healthcare settings, Rimidi has developed a Coronavirus (COVID-19) screening application for health systems to identify at-risk patients and direct them to appropriate locations.
- The EHR-integrated app is one of the first designed specifically to flag patients with possible Coronavirus symptoms, enabling health systems to mitigate the spread and optimize treatment.
Rimidi, a cloud-based
software platform, today announced
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Coronavirus Forces Cancellation of 2020 HIMSS Conference: 6 Things to Know
What You Need to Know:
- Amidst growing fears of exposure to the COVID-19 Coronavirus HIMSS announced the cancellation of the 2020 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition, marking the first cancellation in 58 years.
- The advisory panel recognized that industry understanding of the potential reach of the COVID-19 Coronavirus h has changed significantly in the last 24 hours.
- Over the last week, COVID-19 Coronavirus has become a global topic of concern. Gov. Ron DeSantis
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Amwell Launches National Coronavirus (COVID-19) Telehealth Response Program
What You Need to Know:
- Amwell launches a national Coronavirus (COVID-19) telehealth response program to help hospitals, health systems, and health plans manage and mitigate coronavirus spread.
- Telehealth can serve as a force multiplier in the public health response to the COVID-19 outbreak, improving access to care directly from the home.
- Amwell has established an always-on-call infection control officer, COVID-19 specific workflows to guide clinical operations and quality, and
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Due to Coronavirus Outbreak, Medicomp Systems Pulls Out of HIMSS20
What You
Need to Know:
Medicomp Systems cancels its participation in the HIMSS 2020 conference due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak posing an unacceptable health risk for its staff.
Medicomp Systems, a Washington, D.C.-based provider
of clinician-driven, point-of-care solutions that fix EHRs, announced today that the company is
canceling its participation in the 2020 HIMSS Global Health Conference &
Exhibition, March 9–13, 2020 in Orlando to protect the health and safety of
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