Telehealth & Telemedicine have become one of the most relied upon technologies in the wake of the pandemic. The virtual services technology revolutionized the care model of healthcare and helped correct some of the flaws in the conventional healthcare model. Though this tech was always present, it took a devastating pandemic, to make us realize the obvious benefits of this technology.
During COVID-19, the usage of telemedicine services has grown exponentially. The tech made it possible that healthcare can be provided while adhering to the pandemic safety protocols. It also helped in offsetting the revenue losses incurred by medical practices and health systems due to the pandemic. Most important of all Telemedicine ensured that regardless of the countless challenges of the pandemic, safe healthcare access will always be available.
Recognising the obvious benefits of telemedicine, even the government made concessions and introduced waivers to ensure that physicians and healthcare organizations can easily transition to virtual services. All of these efforts made it possible for patients and providers to always be in touch and it allowed patients to receive quality healthcare from the safety and comforts of their places of residence. All of these benefits and endorsement paved the way for telemedicine to become one of the greatest and most used tech of the decade.
A lot of businesses transitioned to providing virtual services as there was high demand for it in the market. Several organizations grew because of telehealth and to a lot of them virtual services was the lifeline they hung on to, allowing them to keep their businesses alive. In short, before people realized Telehealth became an integral part of healthcare, that countless people depended on. This sudden scenario was perfectly put to words by the CMS Administrator, Seema Verma, “I think the genie’s out of the bottle on this one,” she said. “I think it’s fair to say that the advent of telehealth has been just completely accelerated, that it’s taken this crisis to push us to a new frontier, but there’s absolutely no going back.
But even after all that there is still concern of telehealth services being used to exploit people. People started voicing concern over possible cyber attacks, theft of patient data, possible fraudulent business. Under the pressure of all this doubt, it can be said that despite the widespread use of telehealth, it is on shaky foundation and no one is sure if this support will exist post COVID-19. While waivers have been introduced now, they are all temporary and there is no concrete guarantee that coverage for telemedicine services will exist post-pandemic.
While these concerns are valid, experts and researchers feel that the benefits of telehealth far outweigh the flaws. For one thing the technology is still being developed and will continue to be updated as times change, it can be made more secure and more dependable with time. This ideology is what has convinced a growing number of states to fight for permanency of telehealth services, regardless of the situation concerning COVID-19.
There were three states that had initiated the efforts to ensure that telehealth remains permanent
- In late May, Illinois’ House passed a bill that would have extended Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive order in March that requires insurers to reimburse telehealth services at the same rate as in-person. However, the legislation did not come up for a Senate vote before lawmakers adjourned, according to Bloomberg. The Partnership for Connected Illinois project is now studying telehealth’s benefits to lobby lawmakers, according to the report.
- On May 27, the Rhode Island Senate Health and Human Services Committee advanced a bill that would permanently require payers to cover telemedicine services at the same rate as in-person services.
- On June 3rd, a Colorado Senate committee passed a bipartisan bill that aims to uphold patients’ ability to receive care via telehealth that was implemented during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Now New Hampshire is proudly being added to the list of states that endeavoured to make telehealth services more permanent post COVID-19. Here is how they made it happen:
- On July 22nd, The NH Public Radio reported that, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed a bill into law that will make certain parts of the state’s expanded telehealth coverage and services permanent
- The bill requires insurance coverage to be reimbursed at the same rate for services delivered via telehealth and those done in-person, including for Medicaid beneficiaries.
- New Hampshire now also supports access to medication-assisted treatment in specific settings by means of telehealth.
- Insurers are prohibited from imposing coverage for telehealth services through an additional benefit plan limitations that include annual or lifetime dollar maximums on coverage, deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, benefit limitations or maximum benefits that are not equally imposed upon similar services provided in-person.
There is a growing number of states that are lobbying to make telehealth more permanent. While their success remains to be seen, it is assured that somewhere in the very future telehealth will be made permanent.
We @BillingParadise, understand the need for Telemedicine and other virtual services. That is why we don’t just support our clients in implementing virtual services, but we also ensure that it is provided with end-to-end support and at an affordable rate.
