Telehealth — real-time video encounters between patients and providers — presents the opportunity to reverse the longstanding paradigm of placing the burden on patients to seek care where it’s physically available by bringing healthcare directly to them — akin to the old-fashioned “house call.” These technologies move appropriate care to lower cost settings, reducing unnecessary ER utilization, hospitalizations and even general overhead, and support preventative care efforts for chronic care patients.
Simply put, through the marriage of innovation, technology and healthcare, telehealth delivers safe, secure, and cost-saving access to healthcare for Americans who face a multitude of barriers to receiving care in person.
Momentum for telehealth is accelerating at an undeniable rate. As of December 2013, 20 states and the District of Columbia have passed mandates for coverage of commercially provided telehealth services; 44 states offer some type of Medicaid reimbursement for services provided via telehealth. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, arguably one of the most telehealth-progressive agency in the nation, has not only eliminated co-payments for in-home telehealth, but supported nearly early 1.5M episodes of care in 2012 – reducing bed stays, hospital admissions, and delivering nearly $2,000 in savings per patient.
While innovation in telehealth progresses and states take positive steps to encourage this kind of care delivery, however, there still exists an inconsistent, indeed debilitating, patchwork of state laws that have inhibited the deployment of telehealth in both the private and public sectors. This inconsistency has left both providers and patients in a state of limbo. Uncertainty around the ability to provide care in this manner has created an unnecessary barrier to realizing the true promise of telehealth.
It has become increasingly obvious that Federal legislation is required to establish uniform ground rules.
The Telehealth Modernization Act of 2013 (H.R. 3750), filed in December by Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Congressman Bill Johnson (R-OH) offers a true solution.
As an increasing number of states contemplate the question of how to both increase access while ensuring safety, this insightful and bi-partisan legislation provides states with clear definitions and principles they can look to for guidance when developing new policies that govern telehealth. These principles are consistent with the existing standards for in-person care so as to ensure the safe and secure use of Telehealth in medical practice.
Among its principles, the Telehealth Modernization Act supports the concepts that every telehealth encounter should, among many others, assert the identity (and professional accreditation) of its participants, establish access to medical history, enforce full documentation, and foster continuity of care — the very standards which are upheld in doctor’s offices, clinics, and hospitals throughout the country.
The Telehealth Modernization Act defines telehealth as the delivery of health care services “to a patient, not in person, from any location to any other location” — a standard that will allow virtual care to reduce barriers such as distance, mobility, and physician supply, as well move appropriate care to low-cost settings including the home and workplace.
Together, these concepts promote further innovation and evolution in healthcare, while ensuring the proliferation of verifiably safe and secure telehealth models — a balance that should and must be struck.
I applaud the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2013 and its sponsors. Telehealth is becoming a widely accepted practice across the United States — not least of all due to the increasing challenges we, as a nation, face in fixing our healthcare system, and the speed with which we innovate such fixes. This legislation acknowledges both, while upholding the governance of states in the practice of medicine. The bill also interplays with other recent and important legislative proposals in Congress that seek to address related barriers within the telehealth ecosystem — including the Telehealth Enhancement Act and the TELE-Med Act.
I encourage federal leaders to stand behind HR3750, state regulators to consider its thoughtful principles, and providers across the country to extend the reach of their care through telehealth, so that all Americans can receive quality care irrespective of their circumstances, location, or means.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Roy Schoenberg
Quelle/Source: mHealth News , 23.12.2013
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