In response to increasing patient demand for telehealth, Kaiser Permanente this week announced the launch of a new “virtual-first” healthcare plan in Washington state. The plan, which will be available January 1, 2021, through Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington direct to employer groups and consumers, will center telehealth as a foundational modality of care […]
A new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association showed that in mid-March, Black people were more likely to self-report telehealth use in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic – particularly when perceiving COVID-19 as a minor threat to their own health. The Pew Research Center conducted the survey […]
The American Hospital Association sent an open letter to President Donald Trump this week recommending actions that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should take to safeguard patient access to telehealth after the public health emergency ends. The president issued an executive order in early August in support of making some temporary flexibilities for telehealth […]
Three-quarters of patients who obtained healthcare virtually during the pandemic said they want it to be a standard part of care in the future. The result lends weight to the ongoing conversation around telehealth. A Kyruus survey of 1,000 patients found that more than 75% said they were very or completely satisfied with the virtual care they’d received, […]
A new report from the Commonwealth Fund found a “plateau” in the growth of telemedicine visits, accounting for a relatively small percentage of rebounding ambulatory care services. As states experiment with reopening – and re-closing – their economies in response to concerns around coronavirus, continuing attention has been paid to skyrocketing rates of telehealth visits. […]
This past week, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said she “can’t imagine going back” to making beneficiaries return to in-person visits after the agency’s relaxation of telehealth regulations in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Verma’s comments came as industry leaders pushed for two-dozen federal regulatory waivers surrounding telehealth to become permanent, […]
David G. Armstrong, DPM, Ph.D., co-director of Keck Medicine of USC’s limb salvage program, had a patient with a problem. Post-surgery, the patient had developed necrotic tissue at the site of the wound—according to an AI algorithm, the wound was 46% necrotic. The patient was at an extremely high risk for sepsis, which meant his […]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, business at Gastro Health in Miami came to a halt. In order to uphold social-distancing practices, patients stayed at home and thus physicians at the practice did not have access to them. THE PROBLEM Additionally, all elective endoscopic procedures were cancelled. Only urgent procedures were performed. There was a dramatic drop […]
Through its Healthbox subsidiary, HIMSS is facilitating peer-to-peer sharing of COVID-19 technology solutions and lessons learned on the COVID-19 Digital Think Tank. On today’s HIMSSCast, host Jonah Comstock chats with Healthbox President Neil Patel about how to use the platform, how it came about, and what he’s seen on it so far. Neil and Jonah […]
Telehealth was on the 2020 roadmap for Grand Lake Health Systems (GLHS) in St. Mary’s, Ohio. The health system had been planning to explore the clinical and financial aspects of telemedicine, then deploy the technology where it made sense. The COVID-19 pandemic sped up the health system’s time line exponentially. THE PROBLEM As the pandemic […]
