The Alliance for Connected Care led a letter with other leading telehealth groups supporting the Benefit Expansion for Workers Act of 2022, which would allow employers to provide telehealth or other remote care services to employees ineligible for an employer-sponsored group health plan. To read the full letter, click here or see below:
EurekAlert: Telehealth enables eight Texas nurseries to reduce antibiotic use in newborns by 32 percent Researchers found that using telehealth to consult with pediatric infectious disease specialists can lead to a 32 percent decrease in antibiotic use in nurseries. Researchers began the study in 2018, prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. [...]
On June 29, the House Appropriations Committee released the Report for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies for Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations. The report includes specific instructions with respect to the appropriated amounts. The Alliance was thrilled to see the inclusion of several telehealth provisions in this report, which [...]
JAMA Network Open: Association Between Telemedicine Use in Nonmetropolitan Counties and Quality of Care Received by Medicare Beneficiaries With Serious Mental Illness A study to assess whether greater telemedicine use in a nonmetropolitan county is associated with quality measures, including use of specialty mental health care and medication adherence, found that greater use [...]
mHealth Intelligence: Telehealth Use Remained Steady in 2021 for Medicare Beneficiaries A study by the University of Michigan's Institute for Healthcare Policy found that telehealth use remained steady, serving as a substitute for in-person care for Medicare beneficiaries and avoiding a spike in visits and costs. In 2021, about one in three Medicare [...]
National Academy of Medicine: The Promise of Digital Health: Then, Now, and the Future In this report, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) highlights the tremendous uptake of telehealth and remote patient monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telehealth was able to reduce delays for specialty consultations and primary care. The report provides actionable [...]
In this update, there were lots of press around cross-state care and reciprocity of state licenses, with highlights from board members Amwell and Johns Hopkins Medicine. Notable administration actions included the release of the OMB Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, and the White House ONDCP report. [...]
Medcity News: Telehealth visits for mental health continue to rise despite dropping in every other specialty A report by Zocdoc found that telehealth accounted for 87 percent of mental health appointments booked last month. That percentage is continuing to climb, despite virtual care visits declining across all other specialties. This is due to the ease [...]
University of Michigan Medicine: Telehealth flexibilities didn’t send Medicare visits soaring, despite worries An analysis of Medicare data from the University of Michigan Medicine found that older Americans and their health care providers have settled into a steady pattern of using telehealth technology for nearly one in 10 outpatient appointments. The analysis shows that for [...]
HR Dive: Mental health, telehealth benefits are post-pandemic priorities An annual benefits survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that mental health and telemedicine or telehealth services are among the most important benefits employers feel they can offer employees in 2022. Of the survey’s 3,129 responses, 93 percent of respondents said they offered [...]