Telemedicine News & Updates 1-24-2018

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Posted By: Annmarie Budniak January 24, 2018

New Research Reveals 75% of Healthcare Delivery Organizations Are Investing in Telehealth
Vidyo, Inc. (@vidyo), a provider of embedded video technology, recently released a study detailing the commitment of healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) to telemedicine in 2018. The data reveals that remote and video-enabled care is becoming a critical cornerstone of healthcare delivery, with over 75% percent of respondents operating or planning to launch telehealth services in the year to come. The findings are collected in a new ebook surveying over 300 clinical and IT professionals responsible for healthcare and technology investments across the country. Telehealth ranks as one of the top four IT investment priorities for HDOs and two-thirds of respondents plan to spend 20% or more of their technology budget on telemedicine solutions.

1Vision Awarded Home Telehealth Contract from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
1Vision LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of HMS TECHNOLOGIES, INC., announced that it has been selected as the only Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) to be awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to deliver home telehealth solutions to U.S veterans. The contract includes one base year and four one-year option periods with a maximum value of $258,668,957.

WeCounsel Expands Offering To Serve All Healthcare Specialties
Expanding the scope from a core focus in behavioral health, WeCounsel, a telemedicine technology company, is broadening its industry presence to accommodate multi-specialty healthcare providers under a new brand, VisuWell (@VisuWell). VisuWell now provides a virtual care platform for health organizations with any specialty mix. The platform enables any provider group or hospital to add virtual patient encounters to their care delivery model.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Grants Supports Weitzman Institute Community eConsult Network Pilots in CT
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has awarded grants in amounts totaling $32,000 to the Community eConsult Network (CeCN) to further the use of electronic specialty consults (eConsults) in Connecticut. The electronic consults will make it easier for patients to access specialty consults and care by providing their primary care providers with quick access to a network of board-certified specialists. The specialists can provide medical opinions through a secure telehealth platform.

Insurtech Startup Wellthie Selects Teladoc for Telehealth and Consumer Engagement Solution
Wellthie (@Wellthie), an insurance technology company offering cutting edge sales technology to producer and carrier partners that wish to modernize their distribution process, has announced its selection of the HealthiestYou telehealth and consumer engagement product by Teladoc (@Teladoc), the world’s largest and most trusted provider of virtual care delivery services. Insurance brokers nationwide can now utilize Wellthie’s first-of-its-kind platform – Wellthie Small Group – to easily quote and enroll members to receive telehealth services.

Brand Intimacy Agency Elevates Leading Technology Provider in Healthcare
MBLM (@mblm), the Brand Intimacy Agency focused on strategy, design, creative and technology, announced the introduction of Synzi (@SynziCare), a separate entity of Stratus Video Language Services. Designed to improve patient engagement and care delivery, Synzi is a sophisticated communications platform that automates and optimizes workflows across multiple modalities.

GPT PreConference to Replace One-Day School-Based Telehealth Summit
Georgia/Global Partnership for Telehealth (@GPTelehealth) has invited school nurses and others interested in student health from Georgia and surrounding states to attend its School-Based Telehealth Pre-Conference Workshop in the Jekyll Island Convention Center on March 19, 2018. The Pre-Conference will replace the one-day School-Based Telehealth Summit that GPT hosts annually in Tifton. Loren Nix, Director of School-Based Telehealth at GPT, expressed her hopes that absorbing the School-Based Telehealth Summit into a larger conference will provide school nurses who use telehealth with more resources than the one-day summit typically does.

In State News:

Doctors urge video visits for patients with flu
Doctors at Spectrum Health are urging people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms to use a video visit instead of making a trip to the emergency room or urgent care. Several West Michigan hospitals are asking people to limit visits to their facilities, which have become a breeding ground for illness.

The Promise of Telehealth – Part I in a Series Addressing the Role of Telehealth – January 2018
In the Executive Budget released January 16, 2018, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo proposes to expand access to Medicaid-covered telehealth services. With improvements in telecommunications technologies, telehealth is growing rapidly in acceptance and adoption. This is the first in a series of analyses intended to familiarize providers and others with telehealth and its emerging uses.

Illinois clinic provides abortions via telemedicine, which provides wider access but is prohibited in 19 states
At least twice a week, abortions at Whole Woman’s Health of Peoria are performed via telemedicine, an intersection of technology and health care at the forefront of the reproductive rights debate. The clinic about 160 miles southwest of Chicago began offering the service a little over a year ago to help reach women amid expanding abortion restrictions in the Midwest and nationwide.

‘Telemedicine’ allows a doctor’s appointment without leaving home
While many doctors don’t take snow days, it can be difficult for families to make it to a physician’s office when the roads are icy. One North Carolina company is using telemedicine to treat patients from the comfort of their own homes.

Rise in ‘virtual’ doctor visits sparks need for more clarity in Louisiana law, experts say
More than half of U.S. hospitals are turning to telemedicine to provide clinical services in a range of settings, in some cases enabling patients to consult a physician directly from home with a few taps on their smartphone. However, the head of one large national company says Louisiana’s telemedicine regulations are ambiguous, and that Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners inquiries into some physicians’ practices could stymie the industry’s growth in the state. Other in-state health care providers also are seeking clarity from state regulators as they look to dive deeper into providing telemedicine services directly to patients.

Sen. Doug Jones announces $1.1 million in distance learning and telemedicine grants for Alabama
Alabama Sen. Doug Jones announced more than $1.1 million in USDA grants to support distance learning and telemedicine in Alabama. The grants are part of the USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) program. The grants will expand access to job training, educational and health care opportunities for rural communities.

CoBank Donates $227,000 to the ConnectWell Telemedicine Pilot Program
CoBank, EveryoneOn, Navicent Health and Robin Health, announced the launch of the ConnectWell pilot program in Macon, Ga. The program, which is funded by CoBank, will provide 100 diabetic patients in rural southwest Georgia an Internet-ready tablet to enable them to manage and monitor their diabetes from home through an application, and a direct connection to physicians at Family Health Center, Navicent Health, a member of Navicent Health Physician Group, in Macon.

Upcoming Events:

ATA 2018 Annual Conference & Tradeshow
What: ATA 2018 Annual Conference & Tradeshow
When: April 29 – May 1, 2018
Where: Chicago, IL
Event Hashtag: #ATA18

CMS Covered Telehealth Services
You can download the list of services payable under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule when furnished via telehealth on the CMS website.

Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP)
The Center for Connected Health Policy (@CCHPCA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to maximize telehealth’s ability to improve health outcomes, care delivery, and cost effectiveness. Follow CCHP for the latest in telehealth policy and news.