Telebehavioral Health Institute

MARCH 9, 2023

Private payers, Medicaid, and Medicare initiated widespread telehealth reimbursement approvals. The article below clarifies and summarizes the end-of-pandemic reimbursement decisions made by private payers, Medicare, and Medicaid. They can receive care from their homes rather than traveling to a health care facility.

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Telehealth Medicare Remote care Public Health 119

Health Populi

MAY 10, 2022

Among people 50 and over, the doctor’s visit for routine care is the top reason for using virtual care, among 2 in 3 older people. That’s an important behavior change to take into future planning for primary care services targeted to older peoples’ chronic care management and remote health monitoring.

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Telehealth Mental health Public Health Medicare 315

Health Populi

MARCH 9, 2022

For those of you focused on serving Medicare or older patients, there are some important findings in the JLL study to add into your scenario planning assumptions. Those often lead to follow-up care, so we may not be seeing any difference between in-person and telehealth for follow up to specialists, etc.,” ” she added.

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Telehealth Medicare Life Science Mental health 240

Healthcare IT News - Telehealth

MARCH 2, 2021

Mahoney said the restrictions inadvertently create a "donut hole" for Medicare Fee for Service patients, allowing the health system to offer care to everyone but them. "Telehealth is a tool in our toolkit that is largely substitutive, not additive, to in-person care," she said.

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Telehealth Telemedicine Primary Care Health Policy 202

South Central Telehealth Resource Center

AUGUST 8, 2018

New legislation at state and federal levels is making it possible for telehealth services to be reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance carriers. Targets quality of care and quality of life. In addition to self-pay patients, reimbursement can be sought through Medicaid, Medicare and commercial/private payers.

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Telehealth Medicare Primary Care Health Policy 115

Health Populi

MARCH 12, 2020

For example, only health care providers that have an existing relationship with a Medicare patient would be eligible per the requirements in the legislation. Check out this last public health poster about Medicare and COVID-19. That’s Medicare, Australia-style, adopting telehealth in this coronavirus era.

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Telehealth Telemedicine Medicare Public Health 305

Health Populi

JULY 10, 2020

The most bullish clinicians about providing telehealth visits as an on-going alternative to in-office visits are behavioral/mental health providers and primary care physicians, 93% and 62% of whom expect to provide more telehealth to patients.

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Telehealth Primary Care Mental health Patient Experience 292

Docnotes

JANUARY 3, 2022

We had a course called Health, Care & Society wherein students were challenged to learn and think about ethical issues, health policy principles and engaged in conversations on the role of medical providers in our communities. Years ago, I was on the faculty at Albany Medical College.

Primary Care 52

Primary Care Health Policy Medicare 52

Health Populi

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

of health spending per person. Three factors will drive healthcare costs to 2026: prices for medical goods and services, changes in income growth, and shifting enrollment from private health insurance to Medicare — driven by the aging of Boomers. That equates to 18.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and $12,230.40

Medicare 198

Medicare Primary Care Public Health Health Policy 198

Health Populi

MAY 20, 2020

Payors, both commercial and public sector (Medicare, Medicaid), have relaxed rules and regulations for telehealth across platforms (from purpose-built telemedicine programs to HIPAA-relaxed approvals for using FaceTime, Zoom, and other commercial channels), and have various plans to pay for virtual care visits between clinicians and patients.

Telehealth 194

Telehealth Telemedicine Mental health Medicare 194

South Central Telehealth Resource Center

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

New legislation at state and federal levels is making it possible for telehealth services to be reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance carriers. Targets quality of care and quality of life. In addition to self-pay patients, reimbursement can be sought through Medicaid, Medicare and commercial/private payers.

Telehealth 57

Telehealth Telemedicine Medicare Primary Care 57

Henry Kotula

JUNE 14, 2020

Of those using telehealth, the majority (68 percent) used it to provide mental health services; fewer used it for primary care (30 percent) or management of chronic conditions (21 percent), suggesting that most CHCs with telehealth capabilities prior to COVID-19 were not using it for the most frequent types of services provided at CHCs.

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Telehealth Primary Care Medicare HIPAA 41

Henry Kotula

OCTOBER 6, 2018

Rural hospital closures disproportionately occurred in the South, among for-profit hospitals and among organizations with a Medicare-dependent hospital payment designation. The program reimburses hospitals for the actual cost of inpatient services rather than standard Medicare rate, which could be as little as 80% of actual cost.

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Medicare Primary Care Telemedicine Health Policy 32

Healthcare IT Today

AUGUST 25, 2022

Jain, a board-certified internal medicine physician, has 20 years of experience in clinical medicine, health policy, managed care and healthcare delivery leadership.

Digital Health 52

Digital Health Leadership Pharmaceuticals Primary Care 52

Henry Kotula

JULY 1, 2020

While federal agencies can address some of these policies going forward, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid does not have the authority to make changes to Medicare reimbursement policy for telehealth under current law, stakeholders said.

Telehealth 41

Telehealth Telemedicine Medicare Public Health 41

Enzyme Health

JUNE 19, 2019

CCHP: CCHP stands for the Center for Connected Health Policy and is a non-profit that has been designated the national telehealth policy resource center. The organization researches telehealth policy issues and keeps updated information on state telehealth laws and reimbursement.

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Telemedicine mHealth HIPAA Telehealth 60

Henry Kotula

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

Yesterday the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the 2019 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS ), announcing they will delay implementation of changes to physician evaluation and management (E&M) codes until 2021. Along with the two-year delay, CMS also raised base rates, and created an additional code for complex visits.

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Medicare Telemedicine Primary Care Health Policy 32

GlobalMed

JULY 8, 2019

Remote monitoring can increase medication and care plan adherence or alert providers of a spike in blood pressure or other need for intervention. Instead of delaying preventive care visits and relying on more expensive emergency room visits, patients can maintain a more consistent treatment plan with their primary care provider.

Telemedicine 40

Telemedicine Primary Care Health Policy Mental health 40

Health Populi

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018

As the patient is increasingly the payor, some of those savings accrue to her, especially if she uses a health savings account where OTC meds are claimable with a tax advantage. Note the new alliance between Walmart and Anthem to channel OTC meds to Medicare Advantage members).

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Medicare Primary Care Pharmaceuticals Patient Experience 204

American Well

MARCH 5, 2018

Think convenient health care is only for the wealthy? Medicaid recipients often have significant barriers to care. Throughout my residency, I worked in a primary care clinic that was in one of the poorest areas of Boston. Think again. ” Reimbursement through Medicaid is varied, but favorable.

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Telemedicine Connected Health Health Policy Primary Care 48

American Well

MARCH 5, 2018

Think convenient health care is only for the wealthy? Medicaid recipients often have significant barriers to care. Throughout my residency, I worked in a primary care clinic that was in one of the poorest areas of Boston. Think again. ” Reimbursement through Medicaid is varied, but favorable.

Telemedicine 48

Telemedicine Connected Health Health Policy Primary Care 48

Henry Kotula

JUNE 21, 2020

After his legs began to swell, and he felt “very, very lethargic,” he contacted his doctor at Catalyst Health Network, a Texas group of primary care doctors, to ask about less expensive alternatives. We’re all having those conversations on a daily basis,” said Dr.

Medical Billing 41

Medical Billing Medicare Telemedicine Primary Care 41

Henry Kotula

FEBRUARY 1, 2023

The exploding elderly population, in combination with a shrinking workforce to fund Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security, will force our health system to ration care in new ways. These realities will increase the role of primary care as the needed coordinator of health services for patients. David Rahija.

Primary Care 41

Primary Care Nursing Patient Experience Medicare 41

DrKumo Remote Patient Monitoring

MARCH 30, 2023

Healthcare organizations are recognizing the importance of addressing health equality and are implementing initiatives to address these disparities. Another critical aspect is providing culturally competent care that considers the unique needs and challenges faced by different populations.

Patient Experience 40

Patient Experience Digital Health Primary Care Health Policy 40

Henry Kotula

MAY 9, 2020

Across the country, only half of primary care doctor practices say they have enough cash to stay open for the next four weeks, according to one study, and many are already laying off or furloughing workers. The hospitals are getting massive bailouts,” said Dr. Christopher Crow, the president of Catalyst Health Network in Texas.

Primary Care 41

Primary Care Medicare Telemedicine Health Policy 41

Henry Kotula

JANUARY 2, 2019

Among the most well-known is Omada Health , which provides proprietary online coaching programs and other digital tools to help prevent diabetes and other chronic diseases. Another segment of startups focus on a separate driver of health care costs—the prices of medical services.

Digital Health 32

Digital Health Mobile Health Telemedicine Primary Care 32

Henry Kotula

JULY 28, 2023

The series covered broad issues related to the healthcare workforce, economy, and health policy, and highlighted internal industry changes and trends in service delivery, quality, and equity. Other notable consolidations include the finalization of tech-giant Amazon’s purchase of One Medical , a primary care network.

Public Health 41

Public Health Digital Health Primary Care Telehealth 41

Health Populi

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Underneath this statistic, it’s important to compare the payor mix of patients delaying care: nearly one-third of people with private, commercial insurance delayed care by 2018; 22% of people enrolled in Medicaid or Medicare put off care. Consider the 2020 Presidential elections and calls for universal health care.

Primary Care 222

Primary Care Medicare Telehealth Health Policy 222

Health Populi

DECEMBER 22, 2022

We can expect value-based contracting in 2023 to embed health equity incentives, such as this contract struck between Independence Blue Cross and Jefferson Health to address health for residents of Philadelphia including the Accelerate Health Equity initiative. As health consumers, U.S.

Health Technology 156

Health Technology Mental health Digital Health Primary Care 156

Health Populi

JANUARY 18, 2021

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, more hospitals were piloting and planning to move inpatient acute care to certain patients’ home when that made clinical and economic sense. The public health crisis, combined with Medicare Advantage and other payors’ regimes, supported an economic model for the hospital-to-home movement.

Digital Health 194

Digital Health Public Health Life Science Patient Experience 194

Henry Kotula

MAY 1, 2020

Accountable care organizations also scored a major win in the Thursday rule drop, with CMS pledging they wouldn’t be dinged financially for lower-than-expected health outcomes in their patient populations from COVID-19.?. Other major changes are related to COVID-19 testing for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Medicare 41

Medicare Telehealth Nursing Accountable Care 41

Health Populi

DECEMBER 30, 2019

A few of the mainstreaming-of-SDoH signposts in 2019 were: Cigna studying and focusing in on loneliness as a health and wellness risk factor. Humana’s Bold Goal initiative targeting Medicare Advantage enrollees. CVS building out an SDOH platform , collaborating with Unite US for the effort.

Public Health 326

Public Health Mental health Medicare Primary Care 326

Health Populi

OCTOBER 1, 2018

Google,” WebMD, or any number of.gov,edu, or.com healthcare information on-ramps; or, to order medical supplies and equipment on ecommerce sites like Amazon, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and other retail health outlets.

Public Health 234

Public Health Primary Care Digital Health Telehealth 234

Health Populi

OCTOBER 12, 2018

Since the CVS+Aetna announcement last December, the Kaiser Family Foundation ran some numbers on how the merged organization could impact Medicare — a key payor for both health insurance and prescription drugs under Part D.

Medicare 153

Medicare Pharmaceuticals Primary Care Patient Experience 153

Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health

JANUARY 4, 2018

This question and others were discussed at a forum I participated in, entitled “Leveraging Telehealth to Expand Access to High-Quality Care” and hosted by Kaiser Permanente’s Institute for Health Policy (IHP) at the Center for Total Health in Washington, D.C., A primary concern is cost. on December 14.

Telemedicine 44

Telemedicine Telehealth Health Policy Medicare 44

Henry Kotula

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Timoni, JD, an attorney and partner at the law firm Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, in Westfield, New Jersey, who represents healthcare providers in areas of reimbursement and managed care contracting. The Trump Administration supports increased use of Medicare Advantage and expanding consumer choices.

Primary Care 41

Primary Care Telehealth HIPAA Patient Experience 41

Health Populi

FEBRUARY 6, 2020

Among all Americans, the most popular approach for improving the health care in the U.S. isn’t repealing or replacing the Affordable Care Act or moving to a Medicare-for-All government-provided plan. Addressing employer-sponsored health insurance. Reducing system-wide health care costs.

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Health Policy Medicare Primary Care Medical Billing 199