Telemed doctor using tablet

Who Wants to Be a Telemed Doctor?

/in , , , , /by

Patients in rural areas and with limited transportation may welcome telemedicine, but what about the doctors?

It appears that physicians everywhere are also embracing this technology. A recent nationwide poll, conducted by QuantiaMD and American Well, reveals that 57 percent of primary care physicians are interested and willing to conduct telemedicine visits with their patients (1).

To better understand this response, let’s examine the context. As revealed by the survey, doctors are spending increasing time on non-reimbursable phone and email communications with patients. The average family doctor devotes nearly 4 hours per week on phone calls and emails, and each phone call alone costs roughly $20 of the physician’s time.

In this situation, it makes sense to replace non-reimbursable activities with billable telemedicine hours. Read more

swyMed Goes the Distance for Mobile Stroke Units

/in , , , , /by

We’ve all heard that “Time is Money,” but what about “Time is Brain”? When it comes to treating strokes, we already know that every minute really can make a difference in recovery. In this high-pressure environment, the health care industry eagerly embraces any proven innovation that can save crucial seconds in delivering treatment.

That’s where mobile stroke units come in. Recently named as the leader among the Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2015 by the Cleveland Clinic, mobile stroke ambulances are equipped with telemedicine units so stroke treatment can begin en route to the hospital.

Sounds great, but what’s the catch? Mobile stroke care only works if the technology works. Read more

Laptop using swyMed

7 Features for Telemedicine Software That You Can’t Live Without

/in , , , /by

When you’re faced with a number of telemedicine products, how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?

You could try consulting the government; according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the defining feature of telemedicine is real-time video communication. This means that a doctor talking on any video conferencing software can be considered “telemedicine.” Unfortunately, this standard is too vague to offer useful guidance in choosing the best telemedicine solution for your healthcare organization. Read more

5 Ways (and why) to Help HIT and Telemedicine Adoption

/in , , /by

A few articles came out this week that I that I feel underscore the need for providers – both large hospital systems and private practices – need to get off their collective derrières and start implementing HIT and Telemedicine.

Thankfully, we are going to provide them valuable advice to help make this happen later in this piece. However, let’s start with a brief discussion of some of this week’s materials.

In a piece Read more

Interstate Licensure Compact Goes Live

/in , , , /by
interstate licensure map

Blue indicates states where the compact is enacted, orange indicates states where it has been introduced. Map from licenseportability.org, sponsored by The Federation of State Medical Boards.

Slightly old news, but on May 19th (only two weeks after the American Telemedicine Association’s Annual Meeting and Trade Show), enough states signed the Interstate Licensure Compact into law to trigger forming the Interstate Licensure Compact Commission. Each state will appoint two commissioners who will help oversee and administer the compact.

This is a highly important event, as it marks the beginnings of making physician licenses either more portable (license portability) or much easier to acquire in additional states once acquired the first time–a key stumbling block in telemedicine that looks to provide aid to rural areas that are often closer to medical service areas in a bordering state. It’s also been a key issue in overcoming the increasing physician shortage in general.

The seventh, and triggering state, was Alabama, followed almost immediately by Minnesota on the same day. On May 27th, Nevada followed suit, making the number of participation states nine. The other states are Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming–notably rural states that would benefit immensely by the Compact’s success.

The commission is expected to meet later this year. For more information on the Instate Medical Licensure Compact, please visit http://licenseportability.org/.

swyMed & Kubi on EMR & HIPAA

/in , , , /by

There was a nice little write-up by John Lynn at the EMR & HIPAA site about Revolve Robotics‘ Kubi robot. Although we weren’t the focus of the article, there was a nice paragraph about needing swyMed for Kubi’s healthcare applications due to being HIPAA compliant while still having Kubi controls baked in.

Please click here to read the entire article.

Preparing Big Stuff for HIMSS 2015

/in , , , , /by

swyMed at HIMSS 2015 booth 7164

I admit it’s been too long since I last posted here. Well, I have an excuse…

We’ve been busy getting ready for the HIMSS and ATA 2015 conferences. We’re very excited to be going because we believe this is the year swyMed really makes its presence known in the healthcare space.

At HIMSS we will be introducing some very special technology for home health use as well as new partnerships that will make the deployment and delivery of healthcare even easier. Read more

senior patient using swyMed tablet

Introducing the New User Type: Patient

/in , , , /by

senior patient using swyMed tablet

In response to customer requests, we have just added new user type for our software: “Patient.” Patient users are not able to search the user directory, meaning that a care provider can keep all their patients in their groups and directories for easy access while maintaining the utmost privacy. A doctor can give a patient swyMed software, set them up with a Patient account with the doctor in the presence list, and the patient can’t search or see other doctors or patients, fully complying with HIPAA.

We created this user type so that swyMed can be given to individuals on their home PCs, smartphones or tablets, to connect to their doctor, and know that their privacy is protected.

In the past, most of our clients installed our software on devices owned by their facility, which either restricted use to the facility or required loaning devices to patients. Now with the Patient user type, they can throw the doors open and give the software to anyone, anywhere.

This is just one more way that we are allowing our healthcare customers to have the workflow they want, rather than a Rube Goldberg procedure for contacting patients while maintaining full compliance.

Max Life emergency response

Emergency Response Day Video from ITS World Congress

/in , , /by

Max Life, with whom we provide remote urgent care, remote ER screening, and mobile trauma care, participated in the the ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) World Congress Emergency Response Day back in September. It may be several months later, but the ITS has released this wonderful video on YouTube showcasing the Mock Incident exercise. Max Life can be seen starting at the 1:06 mark, showcasing swyMed’s telemedicine communication platform inside their ambulance beginning at 1:27.  However, watch the entire thing. It’s less than three minutes and provides a great example of how telemedicine can play an important role in emergency response.

Maybe You Can get Reimbursed for That…

/in , , , /by

Treasure In Paper

Last week I posted a press release from the ATA about expanded Medicare coverage for Telemedicine.  Well, I decided to actually read the 1200 page rulemaking from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  You can guess why it’s taken a week to write a follow up article…

Actually, no.  I didn’t read the entire rulemaking, only the pages relevant to all things “tele” in medicine and healthcare.  In doing so, I was reminded of something interesting:

There are a number of procedures already covered by Medicare without specific telemedicine codes.  In fact, of the seven bullet points listing the 22 codes rejected or deleted from inclusion, five noted the affected codes were largely unnecessary due to either an existing telehealth code or because Medicare does not distinguish whether the procedure is tele or not.

Here are a few examples:

Regarding electrocardiograms and echocardiograms: “By definition, Read more