Telehealth

Although many hospitals are ramping up telehealth efforts, rural hospitals often can't provide virtual services due to lack of broadband access, according to NBC News.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has unveiled a plan for a COVID-19 telehealth program that would allocate $200 million to support healthcare providers' use of telehealth services during the pandemic. 

CMS on March 30 issued various regulatory changes to further support hospitals', physicians’ and other healthcare organizations’ capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, including expanding Medicare coverage of telehealth visits. 

Amwell recently welcomed Amber Howe as its new chief people officer and Brendan Miller as senior vice president and general manager of health plan solutions.

By leveraging an algorithm based on information from China and Italy, Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital is selecting COVID-19 patients who can be sent home for the rest of their treatment, according to NBC News.

More than 50 percent of the encounters at UC San Francisco are being conducting virtually, leaving the emergency room only "moderately busy," according to a CNBC report March 27.  

As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise across the U.S., hospitals and health systems are facing a slew of potential issues from facility overcrowding to increased spread of infection.

The American Medical Association recently released a coding guide to help providers process payments for telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, NYU Langone Health expanded its telemedicine platform this week to include an additional 1,300 physicians and other care providers.

As health systems and hospitals become overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, the transition to virtual care platforms makes sense.