Virtual care news, trends and reimbursement updates
Telehealth news covering program growth, utilization and payment. Becker's tracks telehealth reimbursement policy at the federal and state level and how virtual care fits into health system strategy.
Telehealth
In the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 transmission became prevalent in the United States, Americans started experiencing high levels of isolation, economic uncertainty and anxiety. In January 2021, the American Psychological Association's Stress in America survey found that adults were…
In collaboration with Amwell
Trust can be harder to establish between patient and provider in a virtual care setting. Here are recommendations to establish these elements, according to a March 24 article published in Harvard Business Review.
Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital teamed up with telehealth company TytoCare to create an at-home telehealth kit to provide on-demand virtual medical exams, according to a March 23 news release.
Pharmacy discount provider GoodRx on March 24 launched its COVID-19 vaccine tracker, which offers information on vaccine inventory and appointment availability for more than 50,000 U.S. sites.
From making telemedicine more consumer friendly to increasing access to care during the pandemic, retail and tech giants including Amazon, Google and Best Buy are ramping up their virtual care initiatives and innovating the healthcare delivery system.
Ro, a direct-to-consumer telehealth app for pharmacy services, completed a $500 million Series D financing round, it said March 23.
Before 2020, few in the healthcare industry questioned the potential utility of telehealth. Its benefits were obvious, the technology itself was robust and well-developed — but all the same, it never quite hit mainstream adoption. Then COVID-19 changed everything.
Brian Wynne, Vice President, NRC Health
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have invented a telehealth drone that can deliver lab tests, medicine and medical supplies in the country's most secluded regions, according to a March 15 article published by the university.
COVID-19-related telehealth rules for out-of-state providers may lead to unintended consequences such as fraud and limited patient access if made permanent, according to a recent Kaiser Health News analysis.
Hospitals and health systems across the U.S. scurried to launch and expand telehealth programs in March 2020. One year later, telehealth still holds a steady place in healthcare delivery, but its significance in the future is not set in stone.