Telehealth

St. Paul, Minn.-based Regions Hospital is testing a new ventilator developed by Medtronic that allows clinicians to monitor the devices without physically entering COVID-19 patient rooms, according to local NBC affiliate KARE. 

CMS is expanding its list of audio-only telephone services covered by Medicare as well as making several other updates to telehealth coverage.

HHS awarded $20 million to increase telehealth access and infrastructure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for providers including the American Academy of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina Maternal Health Care.

Teladoc Health reported 2 million total virtual visits during the first quarter of 2020, up 92 percent from last year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven rapid expansion of telemedicine use for both urgent care and non-urgent care visits, growing 683 percent and 4,345 percent, respectively, at NYU Langone Health, according to a recent Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association…

Both Democratic and Republican legislators want to further expansion of telehealth services, especially for Medicare beneficiaries, according to a report in The Hill, which held a virtual event on April 29 that included industry leaders and lawmakers.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems are using clinical communication, telehealth, patient engagement, and provider scheduling platforms to mitigate capacity and staffing challenges while delivering quality patient care. 

CVS is rolling out telehealth services through its retail MinuteClinic. 

About 60 Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic physicians are using telemedicine technology to provide care for COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit at NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital in New York City, according to MPR News. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic began and it became clear telehealth would be necessary for physicians and nurses to treat patients remotely, CMS boosted rates for telehealth visits so they matched rates for in-clinic visits and would sustain providers during the…