JAMA: Attitudes and Perceptions of Multidisciplinary Cancer Care Clinicians Toward Telehealth and Secure Messages A new study finds that the majority of cancer care clinicians were satisfied with telehealth and expressed intent to continue to use the care modality in the future. Just over 75 percent of respondents said they were somewhat or very satisfied [...]
National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP): States Allowing Telehealth Prescriptions for Opioid Use Disorder Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government implemented several telehealth flexibilities to allow states to maximize access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). While these flexibilities remain allowable until the end of the federal public health emergency [...]
The Commonwealth Fund: Telemedicine, modernized licensing can help bridge health disparity gap A report by the Commonwealth Fund found pervasive racial and ethnic inequities across health systems in all 50 states. The state-by-state analysis pointed to policy changes that could help bridge the gap, such as policies to help ensure health coverage, reduce administrative burden and improve [...]
JAMA Oncology: Evaluation of Telemedicine Use Among US Patients With Newly Diagnosed Cancer by Socioeconomic Status Newly diagnosed cancer patients with high socioeconomic status were more likely to have a telehealth visit in the 30 days following their diagnosis compared to patients with low socioeconomic status, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Kansas [...]
STAT: A telehealth effort to treat PTSD and bipolar disorder in rural areas showed ‘huge gains.’ Now comes the hard part Over a four-year span, a study led by researchers at the University of Washington sought to deliver treatment to rural patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder, complex diagnoses for which treatment is [...]
Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice: Medicare and telehealth: The impact of COVID-19 pandemic A new study shows Medicare beneficiaries living in metropolitan areas were more likely to report that they used telehealth services. Researchers assessed the responses of 9,686 beneficiaries to the CMS Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey Fall 2020 COVID-19 Supplement. More than half [...]
Cigna/Evernorth: Impact of Behavioral Health Treatment on Total Cost of Care Study New research shows that when people with a diagnosed behavioral condition receive treatment, total health care costs decrease. The analysis revealed that behavioral health treatment in an outpatient setting, such as a psychologist’s office or virtual visits, leads to fewer emergency department visits and inpatient [...]
JAMA Health Forum: Trends in Outpatient Care and Use of Telemedicine After Hospital Discharge in a Large Commercially Insured Population A recently published study finds that the number of outpatient visits after hospital discharges remained stable during the COVID-19 pandemic but telehealth use for these visits increased, suggesting that telehealth was a substitute for in-person care rather [...]
Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine: Telephone vs. Video Visits During COVID-19: Safety-Net Provider Perspectives Telehealth increased access to care for New York State residents, with most patients attending audio-only visits compared to video visits. Researchers looked at 36 community health centers in the state and the visits that occurred between February and November 2020. [...]
Progressive Policy Institute and Americans for Prosperity: Telehealth Saves Money And Lives: Lessons From The Covid-19 Pandemic Using aggregated, de-identified data from FAIR Health, the organizations’ study found that while telehealth patients’ costs started higher than in-person patients’ costs, the average telehealth patients’ health care costs fell 61%, from $1,099 per month to $425 per [...]