Greetings Northwest Region:

Happy Holidays from the staff of NRTRC

During our Nov. 25 office hours, co-hosted by Comagine Health, telehealth professionals offer suggestions to decrease virtual burnout. Employers can combat burnout in four ways: Encourage employees to use paid time off. Encourage stepping away from the computer for a walk, and encourage regular business hours. Try to avoid online meetings during lunch. Use instant messaging instead of email. Email subject lines can be used to ask questions, but add "EOM" (end of message), so the recipient knows not to open the email. Encourage gratitude meditations. Register: Upcoming course from the University of Utah on resiliency during COVID-19.

Achieving balance in these dimensions can strengthen resilience and mitigate burnout.

NRTRC Virtual Office Hours: Please join us for office hours, every other Wednesday from 12:00-1:00 p.m. MST.  On Dec. 9, we will host Optimizing Telehealth Opportunities and Revenue Capture offered by the NRTRC and Comagine Health. No office hours Dec. 23.

Telehealth News: CMS announces Physician Fee Schedule Final Policy, Payment, and Quality Provision changes to the Medicare Fee Schedule for calendar year 2021 The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) just released an Interim Final Rule allowing VA healthcare professionals to practice across state lines beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). OIG’s final rule on changes to the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute should benefit telehealth and remote patient monitoring programs.  Updated FAQs on Medicare Fee for Service (FFS) billing related to the 1135 Telehealth Waiver.

Upcoming Events & Webinars: NOT TO MISS WEBINARS: NRTRC/Comagine Health Webinar: Optimizing Telehealth Opportunities and Revenue Capture: Join the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center and other telehealth experts to highlight strategies to optimize revenue capture for telehealth and virtual services. We will primarily focus on the outpatient setting, touching on primary and specialty care, behavioral health, care management and more. You don’t want to miss this webinar if you are a biller, coder, revenue cycle specialist, manager, clinician or care team member! (CME pending) Dec. 9 at noon MST. NCTRC Telehealth Hack – Building Lasting Telehealth Programs on College Campuses: Join Dr. Michael Deichen of University of Central Florida, Dr. Gus Jordan of Middlebury College, and Dr. Kimberly Tilley of University of Southern California as they discuss how they went about setting up robust telehealth programs, policies and procedures, the lessons they learned and best practices. Dec. 7 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. MST. NRTRC Telehealth Office Hours are CANCELLED, Wednesday, Dec. 23.

Telehealth Resources: National Consortium Telehealth Resource Center COVID-19 Telehealth Toolkit NRTRC’s Quick Start Guide to Telehealth Grant Funding Opportunities: FCC Connected Care Pilot Program Rural Health Network Development Planning Program Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program Community Health Access and Rural

Share Your stories: As we wrap-up 2020, NRTRC wants to share a success story of gratitude from one of our regional partners. The NRTRC has been an invaluable partner to the Washington State Telehealth Collaborative in 2020. In addition to offering support and resources to telehealth practitioners across Washington the NRTRC stepped in and offered their resources to support a state-mandated telehealth training for Washington health professionals. While the Washington State Telehealth Collaborative had the expertise to develop the training content, they did not have the infrastructure to make the training available to health professionals across the state as mandated. When the NRTRC learned of the challenges facing the Collaborative, they generously offered a partnership to help create a training that would meet the stipulations outlined in the bill. The NRTRC and Washington State Telehealth Collaborative plan to continue working together as partners to support telehealth growth and sustainability in Washington and the Northwest into the future. Much Gratitude,                                                           The Washington State Telehealth Collaborative

Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center “This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under G22RH31114, Coronavirus Telehealth Resource Center’s Grant Program in the amount of $325,000. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.”