The Win-Win of Today ’s Telemedicine Technology for All Practices

The following is a guest blog post by Sean Brindley, Product Development Manager, Kareo Telemedicine The healthcare profession has been talking about telemedicine and its potential benefits almost as long as there have been phones. Over the last five years, adoption of telemedicine programs has increased steadily, but for some practices, particularly smaller, independent offices, the questions loom larger. How disruptive will adopting telemedicine be to office workflow? Will telemedicine overburden office staff? What are the risks involved in trying it? How will they get reimbursed for the investment? And, most important, what benefits can telemedicine bring to the individual practice that offset the impact of the learning curve? Unlike even one or two years ago, today’s answers are mostly positive. Reimbursement Is Real Let’s tackle the big question first – reimbursement. Starting at the simplest point, most practices today give away a lot of practitioner time in telephone consults that are not reimbursable. Finding a way to generate revenue on even some of those would be a boon to most practices. But the news is far more positive than that. Thirty-five states, plus eight more pending, have enacted telemedicine parity requiring certain payers to pay for telemedicine consultations just as they would reimburse face-to-face visits. Private payers have been at the forefront of telemedicine adoption, likely recognizing telemedicine as a highly cost-effective delivery system...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Connected Health Digital Health Healthcare HealthCare IT Telemedicine Kareo Sean Brindley Telehealth Source Type: blogs