Solutions for a Broken Healthcare System
The cost of healthcare in the U.S. is remarkably high compared to other industrialized countries. There is no equity in access, and even when care is available, it is too varied. A list of reasons why our healthcare system could be considered broken would go on and on. Activist groups and healthcare professionals alike are calling for change, and while some solutions are being offered, we must develop a starting point if we intend any lasting change to occur.
New Substance Abuse Partnership Aims to Reduce Unnecessary 911 Transports
Bicycle Health, a San Francisco-based provider of virtual opioid addiction treatments, in joining forces with Tele911 to develop a platform that helps first responders direct patients with substance abuse issues to the appropriate resources. The service is designed to replace the standard practice of transporting those patients to the hospital for treatment.
Health First Sees Success With Hospital at Home Program
Health First is seeing great success with its Hospital at Home program, launched during the pandemic with a waiver from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and officials at the Florida-based integrated delivery network say they’ll be using remote care management strategies long after the COVID-19 crisis ends.
Eliminating Care Gaps and Boosting Personalization: The Product Innovation Approach to RPM and RTM
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) and remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) have the potential to greatly reduce physicians’ reliance on patient memory—and launch an era of highly personalized care, better treatment adherence, and better health outcomes.
30 Years Solo: Advice From a Doctor on Staying Independent
My practice—despite tightening reimbursement prices and wild economic times—is doing quite well. Here are some tips I’ve learned over the years, all of which are founded on a simple philosophy: Caring for patients and providing good service is the primary goal. Happy, healthy patients are the financial lifeblood of any independent provider.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 58 – Using Technology to Bridge the Behavioral Health Gap for Children
On episode 58 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dr. Anthony Sossong, chief medical director of behavioral health at Amwell, talks about how technology can help improve behavioral health services for children.
CMS Proposes to Cut Audio-Only Telehealth Coverage
The proposal imperils a service that had become popular during the pandemic, when health systems shifted in-person care to virtual channels to cut down on hospital traffic and reduce the spread of the virus. Thanks to federal and state waivers tied to the pandemic, healthcare providers were allowed to connect with patients on a telephone or other non-video platform for some healthcare services and be reimbursed for those services.
How to Map Out an Effective and Sustainable Remote Patient Monitoring Program
HealthLeaders recently conducted a round-table with three health system executives to talk about their RPM programs and strategies. This panel featured Carrie Stover, MSN, NP-C, national senior director of virtual care for Ascension; Sarah Pletcher, MD, MHCDS, system vice president and executive medical director for strategic innovation at Houston Methodist; and Kathryn King, MD, MHS, associate executive medical director at the Center for Telehealth at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).
How AI-Enabled Remote Patient Monitoring Is Improving Patient Adherence and Outcomes
The rapid shift toward telehealth accelerated the adoption of remote patient monitoring and played a significant role in making at-home care a reality. This new care delivery model helped to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among the most vulnerable and allowed providers to deliver the full continuum of care for patients with acute and chronic illnesses.
Survey: Virtual Visits Have Their Benefits (and Distractions)
Compiled by the New York-based telehealth scheduling company Zocdoc, the survey, taken separately of patients and care providers between May 2020 and May 2022 and combined with an analysis of appointment bookings, charts the increase in telehealth visits during the pandemic and a decrease in recent months as the COVID-19 crisis has waned. It found that roughly one-third of all visits were virtual in 2020, as the pandemic peaked, and that number dropped to 17% as of May 2022.