MHA News Now

CMS: Telehealth services should be expanded to cover annual wellness visits, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid has proposed expanding telehealth benefits for Medicare recipients, according to an update of the physician fee schedule for 2015 published online. The proposal would add annual wellness visits, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and prolonged evaluation and management services to telehealth sevices reimbursed by CMS.

Read more here.

ATA wants to launch telemedicine accreditation program for primary, urgent care this fall

In an effort to build confidence in the growing telemedicine industry and to set down meaningful applications for consumers and physicians, the American Telemedicine Association is working toward an autumn launch of an accreditation program for primary care and urgent care. The guidelines reflect an industry navigating between wanting to expand its use as well as setting parameters for it. It published a draft document earlier this month and is seeking public comment through June 12.

Read more here.

 

Newly approved telehealth guideline causes a stir

The Federation of State Medical Boards approved a model telehealth policy this weekend that's made some providers of these services happy and others, well, not so much, because of its emphasis on using video rather than audio technology for a first patient visit. Read more from Joseph Conn in Modern Healthcare here.

ATA's tele-ICU guidelines aim to ensure patient safety

Draft guidance published by the American Telemedicine Association this week focuses on the use of telecommunications technologies in intensive care settings. The stated aim of the guidance, for which ATA is accepting comments through April 26, is to "assist practitioners in pursuing a sound course of action to provide effective and safe medical care that is founded on current information, available resources and patient needs," according to its authors. The authors said that the guidelines are meant for tele-ICU services only and should not be applied to overall ICU care.  

Learn more here.

Proposed patient-centered telemedicine policy raises licensing questions

The Federation of State Medical Boards will vote next month on a new telemedicine policy (PDF) that codifies that medical care takes place where a patient, not a provider, is located. It also states that whether a physician and patient have a virtual or a face-to-face encounter, there should be no differences in standards of care.

The proposal carries implications for where doctors practicing telemedicine need to be licensed. “The practice of medicine occurs where the patient is located at the time telemedicine technologies are used,” the proposed policy states. “Physicians who treat or prescribe through online service sites are practicing medicine, and must possess appropriate licensure in all jurisdictions where patients receive care.”

Read more from Modern Healthcare here.

FCC forms task force to figure out how to expand telemedicine, connected health

Health systems have been in various stages of adopting health care IT to boost gaps in care with telemedicine technology, remote monitoring services and other technologies to help primary care physicians be more efficient, improve access to specialists and to reduce hospitalizations. The FCC wants to figure out how to expand this trend in health care.

It has formed a CONNECT2HEALTH task force to use broadband and communication services to accelerate adoption of advanced healthcare technologies from rural areas to inner cities and determine what infrastructure obstacles stand in the way. Read more here.

CMS expands Medicare telehealth coverage

Medicare is expanding coverage for telehealth consults next year, as part of a gradual embrace of the technology that mobile and remote healthcare advocates have been hoping to accelerate. Read more from Anthony Brino of Healthcare Payer News here.

The doctor will see you now (on video chat)

By melding parts of its infrastructure--namely Google Wallet and Hangouts--Google gives consumers a single destination, either through a computer or Android phone, to book sessions with experts and to pay for them. Doctors can even prescribe medicine, as Helpouts is aligned with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Read more from Alice Truong in Fast Company here.

Telehealth and Medicare

Despite legislative changes from 2001 to 2008 that increased Medicare payment rates for telehealth and decreased regulatory burdens, the study “Telehealth and Medicare: Payment Policy, Current Use, and Prospects for Growth,” in Volume 3, Issue 4 of Medicare & Medicaid Research Review, finds that only 369 providers had 10 or more Medicare telehealth consultations in 2009. Roughly half of the 369 were mental health professionals, and about one-in-five of the 369 were non-physician professionals (e.g., physician assistants and nurse practitioners).

Read more here.

 

AHA supports CMS telemedicine rule, but requests additional changes

The American Hospital Association on July 23 expressed support for proposed changes to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' telemedicine credentialing and privileging requirements for hospitals, but said the changes do not go far enough. In a letter to CMS, AHA said the proposed changes "will allow access to telemedicine services to continue in a manner that is safe and beneficial for patients, while minimizing any unnecessary regulatory burden to providers." However, the letter notes that some hospitals contract with physician groups or other entities for the provision of telemedicine services.

"Under the prior Joint Commission standards, hospitals were permitted to use the credentialing and privileging information from such groups as long as the entity was accredited by The Joint Commission through its ambulatory care accreditation program. We urge CMS to develop a similar process whereby hospitals can use the credentialing and privileging information from practitioners who fulfill the Medicare Conditions of Coverage."