We may still be barely into the new year, but already state legislatures throughout the country have been busy—including when it comes to telemedicine-related bills. The latest state to consider telehealth legislation: Georgia, where the state Senate this past week unanimously passed two bills that, if signed into law, would significantly expand telehealth practice in the state. While one bill would facilitate treatment via telemedicine by patients in other states, the other would expand reimbursement, formally define “telehealth,” and take other steps to make Georgia a more telehealth-friendly state.
Category Archives: TeleHealth
Telehealth is the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration
OIG Greenlights Digital Health Program Offering Free Smartphones to Patients
Last week, the federal HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) gave the greenlight to allow a virtual care company and pharmaceutical manufacturer to loan patients free smartphones, so the patients (which include Medicare beneficiaries) could use the smartphones to track their drug therapy adherence via a mobile digital health app. The OIG’s recent Advisory Opinionmarks the sixth favorable telemedicine/digital health advisory opinion issued by OIG to date. This article describes the drug and digital health technology, outlines the proposed program for free smartphones, and explains why OIG issued a favorable advisory opinion.
Rhinogram Telehealth Capabilities Now Integrated Into Cloud 9 Software Practice Management Solution
Rhinogram, a leader in cloud-based, HIPAA-compliant, telehealth solutions, today announced the seamless integration of their telehealth solution with the Cloud 9 practice management software. Through the collaboration with Rhinogram, Cloud 9 now offers practices the ability to communicate with patients in real-time via simple texts (SMS) and multimedia texts (MMS) or one-tap access directly from a practice’s Facebook ad, giving the practice the ability to better engage with patients while streamlining workflow.
Women’s Excellence in Obstetrics and Gynecology Announces New Telemedicine Program
Women’s Excellence is excited to soon offer a new Telemedicine program for women. Telemedicine visits allow patients to meet with a provider virtually utilizing a computer or mobile device with video and microphone capabilities. The Telemedicine program is scheduled to launch by April of 2019.
Do You Really Want Your Insurer Buying You An Apple Watch?
According to a CNBC report, Apple is currently in talks with private Medicare plan providers to come up with ways to subsidize their watches and get them onto the wrists of senior citizens. Apple already has partnerships with Aetna and United Healthcare to provide such subsidies.
Philips launches app-based hub for its senior caretaking products
This week at CES 2019, Royal Philips unveiled a new app platform that links the company’s senior care products into a single digital ecosystem for family caretakers. Called Philips Cares, the app includes a range of features to track and manage a senior’s care, such as reminders, scheduling tools and access to emergency services.
Blockchain pilots launched in 2018 tackled EHR management, collective data custodianship, credentialing and more
For healthcare, blockchain is continually transitioning from an obscure technology to a viable tool for various administrative and data-focused use cases. But while players big and small might be curious about its potential, they’ll also need to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to pilots and partnerships dedicated to the distributed ledger technology.
Healthcare startups: Is blockchain right for you?
According to IDC, 20 percent of healthcare organizations will be using blockchain by 2020. So should startups in the healthcare space be using it now? Well, not necessarily. While many digital health startups are putting blockchain to good use, for others it might be premature, or even extraneous.
HealthAffairs – December 2018 – Telehealth
Behavioral health innovation two years later: Why is adoption taking so long?
In a category-defining piece written more than two years ago, Matthew Schuster and Dan Gebremedhin surveyed market drivers and companies innovating in Behavioral Health (BH) technology. In this article, we will revisit the macro issues identified in 2016, evaluate how the market has changed, and contemplate how promising BH tech companies can pursue opportunities that not only create impact, but also achieve elusive product market fit.