What You Should Know: - Alpha Medical, a virtual primary care group that empowers women to take control of their healthcare by offering a medical team specifically trained for a woman’s unique needs, announces it will prescribe PAXLOVID, an investigational medication used to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and children 12 years of age and older, and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death, under a EUA. - Alpha Medical, whose
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Telemedicine | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Telemedicine: What Slows Down the Healthcare of the Future
The implementation of remote healthcare — telehealth services — reformed medicine. The infamous pandemic accelerated the growth of the already substantially expanding industry. With the skyrocketing investment in virtual care, new legal regulations that expand the possibilities of remote healthcare, the telehealth industry is predicted to expand from $3 billion to $250 billion. Yet, many barriers are hampering telemedicine’s success. This article explores the challenges of telemedicine and
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PE Firm Aquiline Capital Partners Acquires Telemedicine Provider Avera eCare
What You Should Know: - Telemedicine services provider Avera eCare announced it has been acquired by private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners with $6.4B in assets under management. As part of the acquisition, Aquiline will execute the carve-out of Avera eCare and rename the company Avel eCare. Closing is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2021. - Avel eCare’s more than 230 employees will continue to work for Avel eCare, and its headquarters
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Form Health Raises $12M to Expand Obesity Telemedicine Platform
What You Should Know: - Form Health, a pioneer in the emerging field of obesity telemedicine, announced $12M in Series A funding led by M13 with participation from SignalFire and NextView Ventures. - Form Health is specifically aiming to help chronically ill patients with obesity with a science-backed, personalized program combining virtual care from board certified physicians with FDA-approved medications. By accepting most insurance and offering its services
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Wolters Kluwer Launches Telemedicine Value Sets for Health Insurance Claims
What You Should Know: - Wolters KluwerHealth released telehealth-specific value sets for use in health insurance claims processing, coordination of care, and benefits systems. - The company developed the value sets to meet the needs of payers and providers that are working to develop and refine long-term virtual care strategies. The timing for the value sets is crucial as payers and providers alike
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Oregon House Passes Telemedicine Reimbursement Bill to Promote Safe Access to Care
What You Should Know: Today, the Oregon House passed the HB2508A bill of legislation requiring the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to reimburse health services delivered via telemedicine if specified criteria are met including reimbursing a provider at the same rate for a health service delivered in person or through telemedicine. - The passing of HB 2508A expands coverage of and reimbursement for telemedicine services in Oregon, ultimately promoting equitable and safe access to
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OpenLoop Raises $3M to Expand Digital Health Marketplace for Clinicians
What You Should Know: - Techstars-backed OpenLoop raises $3M in funding to expand digital health marketplace to connect certified clinicians to telehealth opportunities. - The company plans to use the funding to This financing enables OpenLoop to expedite the development of their marketplace technology and grow their team of experts. OpenLoop, a Des Moines, Iowa-based virtual health company based in today announced their oversubscribed seed round financing of $3 million led by an
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Q1 2021 Health IT/Digital Health PC/VE, M&A, IPOs/ SPACs Activity
The first quarter of 2021 has been one of investor optimism as the vaccine rollout continues ahead of expectations and economic activity begins to accelerate in response. Within the Health IT industry, the already strong investment and M&A trends seen in 2020 have only accelerated. Over the course of the quarter, we observed $7 billion in private equity and venture capital investment across 158 companies. By comparison, Q1 of 2020 saw $3.2 billion and 127 investments. Health IT
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Does Telemedicine Impede or Help the Patient-Centered Medical Home?
Traditional patient care patterns have been radically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. And after more than a year of disruption, it’s doubtful that everyone will revert to those patterns after the pandemic. New habits have been formed, and consumers are more willing to pursue the path of least resistance in obtaining care, such as opting for quick and easy telemedicine appointments. Both patients and clinicians have identified benefits from virtual care approaches. However, this and other
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How a Virtual Care Mindset Leads to Greater Patient Acceptance and Sustainable Telehealth Growth
There's no question that the demand for telehealth and virtual care has grown exponentially over the last twelve months. With that growth has come a fundamental shift in the attitude toward virtual care. No longer do patients and providers take a "let's try it" approach—now, it's "we must do it." This is evidenced by the number of telehealth claims filed. In 2020, telehealth claims skyrocketed, increasing by 2,938% in November 2020 versus November 2019 as patients demanded virtual options and as
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