Stethoscope and gavel

Telemedicine Legislation Heartily Embraced by Senate

A telemedicine initiative from New Mexico may soon become a nationwide program. Earlier this week, the Senate unanimously approved the Expanding Capacity for Health Outcomes (ECHO) Act, which champions the system developed five years ago at the University of New Mexico (UNM) to increase access to specialists in rural, underserved regions. Read more

Road sign announcing the next exit, psychiatry

Telepsychiatry Relieves Shortage in Idaho

Thanks to an ongoing shortage of psychiatrists in Idaho, patients are often unable to seek help for mental or behavioral health issues until the condition has become severe enough to require hospitalization. In an effort to provide relief, Saint Alphonsus Health System has partnered with the University of Washington to create a telepsychiatry program, bringing psychiatric residents virtually to rural Idaho and Oregon. Read more

A passerby helps a woman with stroke.

New Standards Published for Telestroke Programs

For the first time, official guidelines have been published for the use of telemedicine in potential stroke cases. The American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association (ASA) recently released a joint scientific statement describing quality measures and outcomes for telestroke. The document was prepared in response to the rapid growth of telestroke over the past decade. Now, hospitals can quantitatively measure their telestroke programs against these standards in order to ensure they are providing high quality care. Read more

The telemedicine market will grow 14% each year from now until 2020.

Telemedicine Market Projected to Reach $35 Billion by 2020

A new analysis from Zion Research reports that in 2014, the global telemedicine market was worth about $14 billion; that value is expected to grow to $35 billion by 2020. That’s a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of just over 14% between 2015 and 2020. Read more

employee benefits manual

Don’t Overlook These Aspects of Telemedicine Employee Benefits

As employers are learning about the advantages of telemedicine, many have begun offering this service to their employees as a perk. While the ease and cost savings are attractive for both employer and employee, adding telemedicine to your organization’s lineup could subject you to additional legal requirements. Read more