Telehealth News
- healthleaders Oct 30, 2024 New Reimbursement Rules Give RPM Providers a Much-Needed Win KEY TAKEAWAYS-CMS has reimbursed for remote patient monitoring programs since 2019, though coverage is limited. Healthcare providers have lobbied to increase CPT codes for RPM reimbursement, as well as for less restrictive rules that limit how, when and where they can collect data. A recent decision from the AMA’s CPT panel eliminates the need for providers to collect data from RPM devices at least 16 of every 30 days.
- PHTI: Some digital hypertension tools effective in reducing BP Xtelligent Virtual Healthcare Oct 30, 2024 A report by PHTI finds that digital hypertension tools using a medication management approach effectively reduced blood pressure and offset initial care costs.
- CCHP Oct 29, 2024 Trending Telehealth Research-HHS Research Recaps and Highlights The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) telehealth website offers a number of resources for patients and providers looking to utilize services via telehealth. The website also offers funding opportunities related to telehealth and broadband programs, as well as a research section
- HealthcareITNews Oct 28, 2024 How FirstHealth is improving outcomes with observation at home The strategy has had a big impact on patient access, bed capacity, and heart failure and all-cause readmissions – not to mention appreciation of patients and family thankful to receive care safely at home instead of having to be admitted to the hospital.
- Xtelligent Virtual Healthcare Oct 24, 2024 Behind the scenes of telehealth standards development Leaders from NCQA and URAC discuss the development of telehealth standards to ensure high-quality virtual care and provide guidance on new technologies like AI.
- HealthcareITNews Oct 23, 2024 Zoom plans new genAI capabilities for healthcare providers Its telehealth technology will use the Suki artificial intelligence platform to generate clinical notes to help reduce documentation burden.
- healthcareITNews Oct 23, 202 Zoom plans new genAI capabilities for healthcare providers Its telehealth technology will use the Suki artificial intelligence platform to generate clinical notes to help reduce documentation burden.
- CCHP Oct 23, 2024 Recent Reports Highlight Policy Recommendations Related To Remote Patient Monitoring OIG) released a new report regarding remote patient monitoring (RPM), which describes existing federal coverage policies and recent utilization rates, as well as recommending additional oversight of the telehealth modality’s use within the Medicare program. In particular, OIG’s review sought to understand how RPM, which is the collection and transmission of health data in a patient’s home to assist providers in managing a patient’s condition, is being used by Medicare patients and billed by Medicare providers. OIG found a dramatic increase in RPM use over the past few years and made a number of recommendations to ensure sufficient oversight and billing of RPM services going forward.
- HealthcareITNews Oct 22, 2024 RPM, enabled with AI, can improve congestive heart failure care A nurse remote patient monitoring expert explains why she's seeing more providers looking for new tools to help manage CHF – and how advancements in virtual care are allowing more patients to be cared for at home.
- Foley & Lardner LLP Oct 17, 2024 New DEA Rule Expected to Extend Controlled Substance Telemedicine Prescribing Flexibilities Through 2025 After considerable pressure from both Congress and the White House, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) submitted a proposed rule regarding flexibilities on telemedicine prescribing of controlled substances on October 11, 2024. Specifics of the proposed rule are not yet available, but we anticipate the rule will extend the current DEA telemedicine prescribing flexibilities for at least one more year, possibly two. The proposed rule is expected to be released and available for public review before the end of the year and should extend both the in-person exam waiver and the state-by-state DEA registration waiver.
- HealthcareITNews Oct 16, 2024 As year-end deadline looms, Congress again calls on DEA to extend telehealth flexibilities Bipartisan lawmakers say a temporary extension isn't adequate, and they're concerned that the draft proposal is "misaligned with Congressional intent" with regard to a registry for the prescribing of controlled substances via telemedicine.
- CCHP Oct 15, 2024 Telehealth and Court Cases Continued: Recent Ruling Additionally Highlights Legal Implications Relevant to Telehealth Policy A recent court decision once again highlights the ability for legal rulings to impact telehealth policy, consistent with the focus of CCHP’s recent Telehealth and Court Cases webinar series, and raises interesting policy questions that have potentially far-reaching implications.
- FIERCEHealthcare Oct 15, 2024 DEA sends 3rd temporary extension of telemedicine prescribing rules to White House The Drug Enforcement Administration is poised to extend pandemic-era telehealth prescribing rules for a third time.
- HealthcareITNews Oct 14, 2024 Arizona agency's omnichannel approach to home health includes telehealth and RPM MD Home Health CEO explains why the organization embraced the four-pronged, technology-infused style of home health and how the approach should streamline delivery and improve patient outcomes.
- STATnews Oct 10, 2024 Frustrated telehealth providers say their businesses face ‘doom and gloom’ They blame DEA’s failure to enact new rules governing the prescription of controlled substances.
- Xtelligent Virtual Healthcare Oct 10, 2024 Palliative care via telehealth on par with in-person care Early palliative care provided via telehealth resulted in quality-of-life scores similar to those of in-person palliative care among patients with advanced lung cancer, according to new research published in JAMA.
- CCHP Oct 8, 2024 DEA RULES, FDA GUIDANCE, AND AL’S GROWING IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE Awaiting DEA Telemedicine Rules as Studies Highlight Telehealth’s Role in Treating Opioid Use Disorder
- HealthcareITNews Oct 7, 2024 CMS releases Acute Hospital Care at Home study The report compares cost, care, patient experience and more to brick-and-mortar care, ahead of the expiratio
- HealthcareITNews Oct 7, 2024 Can AI power progress with remote patient monitoring technology? An expert discusses the combination of RPM and artificial intelligence, with examples of how tools are being developed and used today to improve patient access a
- HEALTHCAREDIVE Oct 3, 2024 Lawmakers urge Biden administration to extend telehealth prescribing flexibilities for opioid use disorder A bipartisan group of two dozen representatives pushed officials to preserve the pandemic-era prescribing changes for buprenorphine, arguing telehealth increases access
- FIERCEHealthcare Oct 1,2024 At-home hospital care popular with patients and clinicians, but data backing quality, costs are limited, CMS finds Hospital programs providing at-home acute care are widely appreciated by patients and clinicians but still don’t have a bulletproof argument in respect to quality and costs as compared to a brick-and-mortal inpatient stay, according to a Centers for Medic
- CCHP Oct 1, 2024 New Health Affairs Study Examines Which Providers are Utilizing Telehealth the Most With the Medicare temporary telehealth waivers set to expire at the end of this year, Congress continues to work on deciding whether the waivers will be extended, modified or allowed to expire with the current end date. In a new study published by Health Affairs (account or purchase of article required to access), 2022 Medicare fee-for-service
- JDSUPRA August 19, 2024 Trending in Telehealth: July 30 – August 12, 2024 Trending in Telehealth highlights state legislative and regulatory developments that impact the healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists and technology companies that deliver and facilitate the delivery of virtual care.
- HealthcareITNews August 19, 2024 AI-powered RPM boosts care for chronic conditions while saving costs Artificial intelligence is helping improve remote patient monitoring technology, with especially promising applications focused on diabetes. One CEO discusses the quality and cost-efficiency promise of "the next generation of remote care."
- JDSUPRA August 16, 2024 CMS Rules Propose Changes Regarding the Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program, Refundable Drugs, Skin Supplements and More; Comments Due September 9 On July 31, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published its mammoth proposed rule entitled “Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Calendar Year 2025 Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program; and Medicare Overpayments” (“CY25 PFS Proposed Rule”).
- HealthcareITNews August 16, 2024 Mental health provider drastically reduces chart audit time with help from AI Cerebral has decreased time spent on audits by 78% and has seen an even bigger improvement in meeting critical insurance criteria. The technology offers precise data feedback that could be missed in manual auditing, an exec says.
- HealthcareITNews August 14, 2024 Digital intake and scheduling scores big results for Posterity Health With the digital intake process, 70% of patients now complete their intake forms within 10 minutes. This efficiency has saved staff approximately 10 minutes per appointment, allowing them to focus more on patient care rather than paperwork.
- TechTarget/xtelligent Virtual Healthcare August 14, 2024 Telehealth use spikes with dementia patients during pandemic Telehealth use surged among dementia patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, with various social determinants influencing utilization, per recent research.
- TechTarget/xtelligent Virtual Healthcare August 12, 2024 Deploying telehealth for equitable hypertension management Massachusetts public health officials detail the implementation of a telehealth-based hypertension management program that improves outcomes among underserved groups.
- TechTarget/xtelligent Virtual Healthcare August 8, 2024 Employing telehealth to boost maternal health equity UC Davis Health is using telehealth to improve postpartum visit attendance among Black people, thereby enhancing maternal health equity and closing care gaps.
- TechTarget/xtelligent Virtual Healthcare August 7, 2024 Lack of telehealth services hurts rural hospital finances Rural hospitals are losing patients to urban hospitals that provide telehealth, resulting in negative financial repercussions, a new study shows.
- HealthcareITNews August 6, 2024 The growing practice of prescribing medical devices via telemedicine UpScriptHealth specializes in this approach to virtual care, including for female pelvic health and opioid withdrawal symptoms. Its founder talks about how this form of telehealth can boost outcomes and help fill gaps caused by specialist shortages.
- TechTarget/xtelligent Virtual Healthcare August 1, 2024 Telehealth offsets primary care visit declines but not equally Telehealth's ability to offset primary care visit declines varied across patient characteristics, with some groups still experiencing large drops in visit volumes.
- CCHP July 30, 2024 Interstate Licensure Compacts: Updates & Overview On July 16, 2024, at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) National Telehealth Conference, a new investment into the multi-state social work licensure compact was announced.
- TechTarget July 30, 2024 GP digital tools could cause patients harm, says report Investigation by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body finds some online tools used in general practices could cause risk to patient safety and impact GP workload.
- TechTarget July 29, 2024 NIH study reveals pitfalls of AI in clinical decision-making GPT-4V scored highly on the 'New England Journal of Medicine's' Image Challenge, but made mistakes when tasked with explaining its reasoning and describing medical images.
- Foley & Lardner LLP July 29, 2024 Substance Use Disorder Treatment Services: 2025 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule Would Expand Access and Medicare Coverage On July 10, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (Proposed Rule) for the calendar year 2025. The Proposed Rule would implement certain provisions of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT Act) and proposes new payment policies relating to Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) treatment. Since enactment of the SUPPORT Act in 2018, CMS has consistently implemented reforms and added covered substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services through its annual update to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
- TechTarget July 25, 2024 HHS reorganizes for coordination across health data policy The HHS reorganization aims to improve coordination for strategy and policy across health data, cybersecurity, AI and technology as digital health transformation progresses.
- CCHP July 23, 2024 POS 10 Non-Facility Rate: Payment & Modifiers Clarification Given the robust amount of content provided in the CCHP newsletter last week (July 16, 2024 edition), some readers may have missed a Change Request to the CMS Manual System issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in June that went into effect July 8, 2024. Change Request 13582, Billing and Payment for Telehealth Services with Place of Service (POS) 10 was directed at the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC).
- CCHP July 18, 2024 Proposed CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule On July 10, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their proposed Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for CY 2025. Each year the PFS contains new or updated policies which CMS will be adopting for Medicare in the following year. Generally, each PFS contains items that will impact telehealth, and with December 31, 2024 as the current end date to the COVID-19 telehealth policy waivers (see CCHP’s Medicare 101 page), many have been waiting to see what the agency will be proposing for 2025. At this time, these are only proposals. The public has until 5:00 pm (no time zone given) September 9, 2024 to provide comments to CMS regarding these proposed policies.
- POLITICO July 17, 2024 The cost of Congress’ telehealth waffling Congress is taking its time to decide whether Medicare should permanently pay for telehealth. The Bipartisan Policy Center says that’s a mistake. The think tank’s new policy report advises legislators to adopt a long-term Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement strategy that gives providers reason to invest in the service.
- POLITICO July 17, 2024 The cost of Congress’ telehealth waffling Congress is taking its time to decide whether Medicare should permanently pay for telehealth. The Bipartisan Policy Center says that’s a mistake. The think tank’s new policy report advises legislators to adopt a long-term Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement strategy that gives providers reason to invest in the service.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE July 16, 2024 Out-of-pocket payment deters telemental healthcare use New study results imply that if the HDHP exemption enabling predeductible telehealth coverage expires at the end of the year, telemental health use may decline.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE July 16, 2024 Telehealth use rose 2.7% nationally in April but fell in 3 US regions Even as telehealth use fluctuates, telemental healthcare remains popular, with mental health conditions encompassing 69 percent of telehealth claim lines nationally.
- JDSUPRA July 16, 2024 CMS Proposes to Extend Virtual Direct Supervision On July 10, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed to extend virtual direct supervision—i.e., the ability to provide direct supervision through real-time, audio-visual technology (rather than in-person presence)—through December 31, 2025, and to permanently allow virtual direction supervision for a subset of “incident to” services.
- HeathcareITNews July 15, 2024 Remote patient monitoring reduces blood pressure for patients in New York State Erie County Medical Center Corporation's RPM initiative has been successful in "improving health outcomes and reducing the risks associated with hypertension," says its VP of population health.
- JDSUPRA July 12, 2024 Trending in Telehealth: July 2 – 8, 2024 Trending in Telehealth highlights state legislative and regulatory developments that impact the healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists and technology companies that deliver and facilitate the delivery of virtual care.
- FIERCEHealthcare July 11, 2024 CMS proposes new payments for digital health under CY2025 PFS draft rule The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS') proposed calendar year 2025 physician fee schedule rule, out Wednesday, proposed an assortment of new payments and coverage for digital health services, including digital therapeutics, telehealth and audio-only telehealth services. It did not, however, address the bulk of Medicare telehealth waivers expiring at the end of the year, which need to be extended by Congress.
- FORBES July 11, 2024 The Vital Need To Extend Pandemic-Era Telemedicine Waivers The pandemic catalyzed a shift in healthcare delivery, rapidly expanding telemedicine services to ensure patients could access essential care safely. While the pandemic has waned and public emergency declarations have ended, telemedicine waivers have survived, and it has become urgent to maintain them.
- FIERCEHealthcare July 10, 2024 CMS' proposed 2.8% physician pay decrease for CY2025 earns quick condemnation from docs The Biden administration is proposing a 2.8% decrease to physician payments in its newly released pay proposal for physicians, drawing near-immediate protest from the industry.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE July 10, 2024 Telemental health service availability declined post-PHE After the public health emergency ended in May 2023, the proportion of mental health facilities offering telehealth services fell, new research reveals.
- FIERCEHealthcare July 9, 2024 Telemental health visits decline when cost-sharing returns, new study finds In a study published in JAMA Network Open on Tuesday, Included Health and Harvard Medical School found that patients in high deductible health plans are less likely to seek virtual behavioral healthcare when costs are re-introduced.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE July 9, 2024 Americans embrace hospital-at-home care & associated caregiving tasks Survey results show that more than half of US adults find hospital-at-home care effective and safe, and most said they can perform the caregiving tasks required.
- CCHP July 9, 2024 The Latest in Licensure Provider licensure exceptions particular to the use of telehealth across state lines continues to be a popular issue area for those reaching out to CCHP for technical assistance. Questions are received from providers and patients alike, and often providers ask for a list of specific states that currently allow out-of-state providers to deliver care via telehealth to in-state patients for their specific profession. In this week’s write up, we would like to drill down on this area of telehealth policy in the hopes of painting a clearer picture.
- HeathcareITNews July 8, 2024 How AI transcription, integrated with telehealth tools, can boost care quality A CEO who specializes in this combination reveals how artificial intelligence has the ability to help analyze and summarize key virtual care consultation points, detect patterns in patient data to deliver more personalized care, and much more.
- HeathcareITNews July 5, 2024 Queensland Virtual Hospital to offer emergency care and more briefs Also, My Emergency Doctor has adopted InterSystems' cloud-based integration engine to offer improved systems interoperability.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE July 3, 2024 Telehealth abortions without in-person ultrasound is safe, effective Research highlights the safety and efficacy of telehealth abortions, where patients do not receive an in-person ultrasound and get their medications via the mail.
- FOLEY & LARDNER, LLP July 2, 2024 HIPAA: Amendments to Protect Reproductive Health Care Information Can Now be Implemented with OCR’s Final Rule HIPAA regulated entities may now begin implementing the amendments to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to provide additional protections for reproductive health care information issued by the Office for Civil Rights Department of Health and Human Services (OCR) earlier this year. HIPAA regulated entities are not required to comply with the new requirements until December 23, 2024 (with a later compliance date for the required changes to the Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP)). However, the message from OCR is that HIPAA regulated entities are encouraged to begin implementing the changes on June 25, 2024, the effective date of the final rule.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE July 2, 2024 Home heart hospital linked to enhanced outcomes, lower costs Hospital-level care provided at home reduced hospitalizations, lengths of stay, and costs among high-need cardiovascular disease patients, research shows.
- HeathcareITNews July 1, 2024 Emory Healthcare scores with an 'Uber app' for at-home PT Patients who otherwise wouldn't have used the health system's physical therapy services because of geographic distance are now staying in-network. The technology also has boosted Emory's value-based care efforts.
- HealthcareITNews June 27, 2024 'When in doubt, include the nursing informatics team' That's the advice of CoxHealth Chief Nursing Information Officer Summer Blackerby, RN, who discusses the value of nursing IT experts, and highlights technologies that provide care beyond the bedside, streamline nursing workflows and more.
- HealthcareITNews June 27, 2024 MBS review wants to retain first video telehealth consult with specialists The committee also suggested bringing back subsidized GP telephone consultations for chronic disease management and patient end-support.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE June 26, 2024 Teleneurology acceptable among veterans with varying conditions New research reveals teleneurology was acceptable among veterans regardless of neurological condition, with higher comorbidity linked to higher acceptability.
- CCHP June 25, 2024 FRAUD IS FRAUD So, Don’t Blame Telehealth On June 13th the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a federal health care fraud indictment against the founder and CEO of Done Global Inc., as well as the company’s clinical president, alleging the individuals were conspiring to commit health care fraud, amongst other charges.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE June 25, 2024 Cancer patient safety, satisfaction high with virtual radiation care Research reveals that telehealth-enabled radiation oncology treatment resulted in high patient satisfaction and bolstered patient safety.
- HealthcareITNews June 24, 2024 OSF deploys care transition program, reduces readmission rate from 29% to 9% The sophisticated program employing patient monitoring, patient tracking and reporting technologies also has enhanced patient follow-up and engagement and yielded a big win on overall healthcare delivery.
- CCHP June 18, 2024 THE AFFORDABLE CONNECTIVITY PROGRAM Access Continues to be Problematic: The End of ACP On May 31, 2024, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) which provided subsidies to households for broadband connectivity ended due to lack of additional funding. Under the program, eligible households received up to $30 per month for internet services and $75 per month for households on Tribal lands.
- FIERCEHealthcare June 17, 2024 Carter optimistic House committees will come to agreement on telehealth extension negotiation The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health voted to pass a two-year Medicare telehealth extension on Thursday along with other legislation that expands reimbursement for health tech.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE June 14, 2024 Nurse phone calls enhance home BP telemonitoring for minority groups Home telemonitoring was more effective in reducing BP among low-income racial minority groups when nurse care management was added, research shows.
- FIERCEHealthcare June 14, 2024 Drug Enforcement Administration sends second attempt at a telehealth prescribing rule to executive budget office The Drug Enforcement Administration’s long-awaited second attempt at a telemedicine prescribing rule has been handed off to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE June 13, 2024 84% of US adults would participate in hospital-at-home programs A new survey shows that most Americans are open to hospital-at-home programs, citing the convenience and comfort of being at home as the reason for participating.
- mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE June 13, 2024 84% of US adults would participate in hospital-at-home programs A new survey shows that most Americans are open to hospital-at-home programs, citing the convenience and comfort of being at home as the reason for participating.
- Congresswoman Michelle Steel June 12, 2024 Steel Proposal to Reduce Health Care Barriers Passes Energy and Commerce Committee WASHINGTON, D.C.-The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has passed Rep. Michelle Steel’s Supporting Patient Education and Knowledge (SPEAK) Act, which directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop best practices for removing barriers to telehealth for patients with limited English proficiency. The SPEAK passed with wide bipartisan support and will now move to the House floor for passage.