This weekend, we travel to Los Angeles for the 20th Annual ATA Telemedicine Meeting & Trade Show! We are thrilled to join the Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers in exhibiting during the conference at booth #909. Experts from each of the 14 Telehealth Resource Centers will be available to answer questions and share our free resources! We have prepared a variety of handouts, from our getting started guide to federal funding opportunities.
Will you be at ATA? We would love to see you during our Northeast Regional Networking event on May 4, from 2-3 PM in room 302. This will be a great opportunity to connect with all of our regional colleagues at the meeting!
Sincerely,
The NETRC Team
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NETRC Regional Conference
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Integrating Telehealth in an Evolving Landscape
The Northeast Telehealth Resource Center (NETRC) is pleased to invite you to attend our second annual conference,
"Integrating Telehealth in an Evolving Landscape"
on
September 23 and 24, 2015
in Burlington, Vermont. This fall, stakeholders from across the eight-state NETRC region (New England, New York and New Jersey), will gather to learn about telehealth best practice and innovation, network with colleagues and identify opportunities to advance their telehealth programs.
Registration is now open to attend and to become a sponsor! Visit our NEW conference website:
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There are now 24 states and the District of Columbia with parity laws for private insurance coverage of telemedicine services! We are still tracking 58 telehealth-related bills pending in the northeast with the Center for Connected Health Policy. Find the bills from your state:
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RECENT TELEHEALTH NEWS
Content compile by Michael Edwards, NETRC Consultant
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Telehealth Policy News
Support for payment of telemedicine services on the rise
Medcity News, April 23, 2015
Payment for services has been one of the ongoing major impediments to the spread of telemedicine, but that is changing as payers see evidence of the cost savings telemedicine can provide. Changes at the state, federal and commercial payer levels are the focus of several presentations at the upcoming meeting of the American Telemedicine Association.
Senators seek Medicare telehealth parity, more rural broadband
Medcity News, April 21, 2015
Mississippi's two senators, Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran, both Republicans, will reintroduce legislation to extend Medicare coverage for telehealth services in medically underserved areas.
Texas Medical Board votes to curtail telemedicine
Houston Chronicle, April 10, 2015
The Texas Medical Board recently voted to severely restrict the practice of telemedicine in Texas, requiring physicians to conduct an in-person visit with a patient before providing a diagnosis or prescribing drugs by phone or video. The rules represent a significant blow to companies like Dallas-based Teladoc, which over the last 10 years in Texas has provided over 140,000 phone and video appointments with physicians licensed to practice in the patient's state.
House bill repealing the Medicare SGR includes telehealth provisions
The National Law Review, April 7, 2015
In March, the U.S. House passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which would repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate for Medicare physician reimbursement. The bill includes provisions for physician payment incentives for the use of telehealth to coordinate care, opens the door to expanded reimbursement under alternative payment models, and calls for the Government Accountability Officeto complete studies on telehealth services paid for by Medicaid and Medicare.
Healthcare broadband program participation lags
Fierce Health IT, April 7, 2015
A former administrator with the Federal Communications Commission has recently proposed changes to the FCC Rural Health Care Program, which funds broadband infrastructure development projects. In order to surmount a major underutilization of the program, recommendations are made to make it easier for applicants to apply and to expand the range eligible provider organizations.
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News on the Practice of Telemedicine
iHealthBeat, April 15, 2015 A majority of health care providers use mobile devices for patient engagement, according to a recent by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. About 90% of respondents reported that their organizations used mobile devices to improve patient engagement, including use for patient email exchange and/or mobile device access to patient portals.
Houston firefighters bring digital doctors on calls
Kaiser Health News, April 9, 2015
In order to address the large number of inappropriate 911 calls for medical issues, the Houston Fire Department began implementing access to an emergency medical physician by video connection for assessment of needs for transport to the ER. Setting up medical appointments and following up with the patients is another part of their innovative program.
How three providers benefit from telemedicine
Fierce Health IT, March 27, 2015
Forbes Insights, in partnership with Comcast Business, recently released a report that profiles how various provider organizations are using telemedicine to improve care. The report includes coverage of the Ontario Telemedicine Network, a telepsychiatry program at the University of California, Davis, a pediatrics telehealth program at Boston Children's Hospital.
Helping uninsured children
Federal Telemedicine News, March 15, 2015
AMD Global Telemedicine is helping the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine remove barriers associated with pediatric follow-up appointments for uninsured children. The University of Miami Pediatric Mobile Clinic is using AMD's Portable TeleClinic system to provide immediate access to remote specialist care, to help patients make follow-up appointments, and to deliver primary care to nearly 3,000 children a year.
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Telemedicine Technology News
Fierce Mobile Healthcare, April 19, 2015
Google Glass is a feasible mHealth tool for dermatology diagnosis in the emergency room setting according to a research letter published in the journal JAMA Dermatology. The small study suggests comparability between specialist exams performed in-person and Google Glass-enabled video consult with a teledermatologist using a Nexus 7 tablet.
Partners HealthCare, Samsung team on chronic disease management tools
Fierce Mobile Healthcare, April 15, 2015
Boston-based Partners HealthCare is teaming up with Samsung Electronics in a multi-phase mobile tech initiative with the first project focused on creating remote mHealth apps and spurring clinical research for chronic disease management.
Mayo Clinic survey: Few patients have experience with video calls
Fierce Health IT, April 8, 2015
Patients support use of telehealth from home via videoconferencing, but hurdles such as the consumer's age and distance from a clinic remain, according to a study recently published Telemedicine and e-Health. Although a 75% majority of the elderly had broadband access; only 38% had a webcam and only 20% had experience with a video call.
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Health Information Technology News
Fierce Health IT, April 16, 2015
The HITECH Act has stimulated adoption of digital infrastructure in healthcare to improve care and reduce costs, but problems with usability, interoperability and the fee-for-service paradigm require further government action, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
iHealthBeat, April 2, 2015
New York State legislators recently appropriated $45 million in funding for fiscal year 2015-2016 for further development and support of a statewide health information exchange, SHIN-NY, which first launched in 2007. The current platform supports alerts to physicians about important events affecting patients, secure messaging with other physicians, and a search engine to look up data in patient records.
Meaningful use stage 3: Making mHealth tools a necessity?
mHealth News, March 27, 2015
The proposed guidelines for Meaningful Use Stage 3 were released recently by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services includes a few provisions that encourage use of mHealth: 25% of their patients must access electronic records, at least 35% must receive a clinically relevant secure message, and providers must incorporate information from 15% of their patients in non-clinical settings.
Has health information exchange improved healthcare reform?
EHR Intelligence, March 12, 2015
In 2013,
the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange released a roadmap for the development of effective health information exchange t
hat would lead to lower costs, improved delivery, and better patient outcomes. A recent report from the Louis W. Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation
released a report
on progress under the 2013 WEDI framework and offers guidance on potential improvements within HIE development and health IT adoption.
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Recent Telehealth Resources
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Agboola SO, Ju W, Elfiky A, Kvedar JC, Jethwani K. The effect of technology-based interventions on pain, depression, and quality of life in patients with cancer: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
J. Med. Internet Res.17(3):e65, 2015
Link
Chi NC, Demiris G. A systematic review of telehealth tools and interventions to support family caregivers. J. Telemed. Telecare 21(1):37-44, 2015
Link
Fazzi Associates. National State of the Industry Report for Home Health and Hospice, 2013-2014. Delta Health Technologies and HealthWyse, 2014 Link Frederix I, Vanhees L, Dendale P, Goetschalckx K. A review of telerehabilitation for cardiac patients. J. Telemed. Telecare 21(1):45-53, 2015 Link Hamine S, Gerth-Guyette E, Faulx D, Green BB, Ginsburg AS. Impact of mHealth chronic disease management on treatment adherence and patient outcomes: a systematic review. J. Med. Internet Res. 17(2):e52, 2015 Link King VL, Brooner RK, Peirce JM, Kolodner K, Kidorf MS. A randomized trial of Web-based videoconferencing for substance abuse counseling. J. Subst. Abuse Treat. 46(1):36-42, 2014 Link Merchant KAS,Ward MM, Mueller KJ. Hospital views of factors affecting telemedicine use. RUPRI Rural Health Policy Brief 2015-5, April, 2015 Link Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Guide to privacy and security of electronic health information. Department of Health and Human Services, April 2015 Link Pan D, Dhall R, Lieberman A, Petitti DB. A mobile cloud-based Parkinson's disease assessment system for home-based monitoring. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 3(1):e29, 2015 Link Pande RL, Morris M, Peters A, Spettell CM, Feifer R, Gillis W. Leveraging remote behavioral health interventions to improve medical outcomes and reduce costs. Amer. J. Managed Care 21(1):e141-e151 2015 Link Scotten M, Manos EL, Malicoat A, Paolo AM. Minding the gap: Interprofessional communication during inpatient and post discharge chasm care. Patient Educ Couns. Mar 17 [Epub ahead of print], 2015 Link Tousignant M, Moffet H, Nadeau S, et al. Cost analysis of in-home telerehabilitation for post-knee arthroplasty. J. Med. Internet Res. 17(3):e83, 2015 Link |
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