On November 17, 2022, the Alliance for Connected Care and the Healthcare Leadership Council held a virtual discussion about telehealth data on November 17, 2022. Attendees heard from Dr. Ethan Booker from MedStar, Dr. Jackie Gerhart from Epic, and Brenna O'Malley from Ascension on current telehealth data and implications on health care utilization, [...]
New England Journal of Medicine: Health Care Access on the Line — Audio-Only Visits and Digitally Inclusive Care Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine share a perspective on ensuring digitally inclusive care. "Audio-only visits continue to be an essential option for patients who lack the resources — including Internet and device access and digital [...]
Epstein Becker Green: 2022 Telemental Health Regulations Unlock Access and Evolve Compliance Practices A 2022 report from law firm Epstein Becker Green (EBG) shows that an increase in the global prevalence of anxiety and depression is accompanied by requests for more mental health assistance, ultimately leading to states sustaining and widening regulatory flexibilities to expand [...]
The New England Journal of Medicine: Informing the Debate about Telemedicine Reimbursement — What Do We Need to Know? Researchers from Harvard Medical School and RAND Corporation shared their perspectives on telehealth, including the support for extending current telehealth flexibilities for two years. The researchers note that the effect of telehealth needs to [...]
NEJM Catalyst: CareConnect: Adapting a Virtual Urgent Care Model to Provide Buprenorphine Transitional Care Medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) such as buprenorphine are the gold standard for treatment of OUD, but patients face many barriers accessing these medications. To address this gap, a team at Penn Medicine created CareConnect, which leveraged new [...]
JAMA Network Open: Comparison of Visit Rates Before vs After Telehealth Expansion Among Patients with Mental Health Diagnoses Treated at Federally Qualified Health Centers According to this research letter, high telehealth availability at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) was associated with better care engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic for patients enrolled in Medicaid [...]
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: CMS Released Medicaid and CHIP Access Data Brief CMS released a short data brief on the general utilization of mental health services for Medicaid and CHIP. Specifically, the rate of mental health service delivery via telehealth increased greatly during the COVID-19 PHE, peaking in April 2020 but [...]
American Heart Association: An Overview of Telehealth in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA), an Alliance advisory board member, released a scientific statement which reviews definitions pertinent to telehealth discussions, summarizes the effect of telehealth utilization on cardiovascular and peripheral vascular disease [...]
American Medical Association: AMA Issues Blueprint for Optimizing Digitally Enabled Care AMA released a Blueprint for Optimizing Digitally Enabled Care, which describes six pillars that can help optimize digital health practices. AMA notes that investments, technology adoption, and patient needs play a significant role in how digitally enabled care evolves and how it can be [...]
Patient Experience Journal: Patient Satisfaction with Telemedicine About Equal to In-Person Visits A study published in Patient Experience Journal found that patients were just as satisfied with telemedicine visits as in-person appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study reviewed 307,185 patient surveys by the Mayo Clinic and found no significant differences in patient ratings of [...]