HealthDay News: Telemedicine as Good as In-Person for Many Health Conditions: Review A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found replacing office visits with video checkups delivered results that were just as effective for patients being treated for conditions like diabetes, respiratory illnesses, chronic pain, heart problems and neurological disorders. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic [...]
NIH National Library of Medicine: Telehealth adaptation of perinatal mental health mother-infant group programming for the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing isolation stressed pregnant and postpartum women and their families pervasively. A new study, that compares 2019 in-person and 2020 telehealth services during the period from mid-March through mid-December in each year, found that [...]
Doc Wire News: The Opportunities and Challenges of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic A new study found that telemedicine provides safe, affordable, and convenient medical and education assistance. Throughout the pandemic, telemedicine provided an alternative platform to medical care and eliminated direct contact of medical workers with patients. The authors found that new laws and regulations are needed [...]
Rheumatology and Therapy Journal: Patient-Reported Nausea and Fatigue Related to Methotrexate: A Prospective, Self-Controlled Study in the ArthritisPower® Registry A new study found that the use of digital technology helps assess medication-related symptoms. Researchers found that nearly two-thirds of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients experience methotrexate side effects (including fatigue and nausea) and that [...]
Arkansas Center for Health Improvement: Report: Telemedicine Utilization Increased 30-Fold During First 12 Months of COVID-19 Pandemic The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) assessed telemedicine trends from March 2020 through April 2021 for Arkansas, with trends reflecting findings similar to the CMS Medicare Telemedicine Snapshot report during the pandemic. April 2020 represented the month [...]
The Alliance keeps a tracker of HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) telehealth-related work plan items. Please see below a list of pending and released OIG reports. View other federal data releases here. Reports in Development Title Report Number Expected Release Description Audit of Medicare Part B Opioid Use [...]
mHealth Intelligence: Outcomes for Virtual Prenatal, Postpartum Care Similar to In-Person Visits According to a Health Science Reports study, rapid telehealth implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic was proven to be feasible for underserved populations at a clinic in Massachusetts, in particular for prenatal and postpartum care services. For prenatal care, telehealth accounted for 57 percent of [...]
HHS released new CMS data and an Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) report of Medicare telehealth utilization in 2020 and early 2021. Overall, nearly 53 million virtual visits occurred in traditional Medicare in 2020, compared to about 840,000 in 2019. Of those, nearly all (92%) of visits occurred in patients’ homes, which [...]
NCBI: Real-World Outcomes in Cystic Fibrosis Telemedicine Clinical Care in a Time of a Global Pandemic A new study found that telemedicine increases access to care for adults with cystic fibrosis living in regions remote to a cystic fibrosis specialty center, with 95 percent of patients with cystic fibrosis having access to telemedicine. Telemedicine accounted for 64 [...]
JAMA: Assessment of Patient Preferences for Telehealth in Post–COVID-19 Pandemic Health Care According to a new study, 66.5 percent of participants surveyed wanted at least some video visits in the future, but when they had a choice between an in-person and a video visit when out-of-pocket costs weren’t a factor, 53% preferred an in-person visit. Exposure [...]