This summer, Rhode Island became the 31st state to require payment parity for telemedicine services. The new law, the Rhode Island Telemedicine Coverage Act, requires commercial health plans to reimburse for telemedicine-provided services at the same rates at which they pay for in-person visits. Read more
Considering that telemedicine is a relative newcomer to the practice of medicine—compared to, say, ECG, which is well over a century old—it may come as no surprise that no formalized telemedicine training currently exists at the medical student or resident level. To correct this, the American Medical Association (AMA) recently adopted a policy to make sure that medical students and residents know how to utilize telemedicine in clinical practice. More specifically, the policy urges the accrediting bodies to add core competencies for telemedicine to their programs. Read more
In one of the first published studies to measure exactly how often telemedicine is utilized, Harvard Medical School researchers discovered that telemedicine use among Medicare patients grew roughly 28 percent each year between 2004 and 2013. This rise is even more impressive in light of Medicare’s restrictive reimbursement policy: Medicare only pays for telemedicine visits if the patient lives in a rural area and travels to a clinic for the telemedicine visit. Read more
A recent article offers good news for diabetics: When patient information is monitored with telemedicine, outcomes improve. By digitizing data, such as blood glucose levels, caloric intake, weight, and exercise patterns, patients’ data can be transmitted to health professionals for analysis. Read more
