This 2020, because of the COVID-19 public health crisis, the HHS’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) widened the coverage of telehealth service by incorporating all Medicare beneficiaries, irrespective of area.
Telehealth services do away with the limitations to in-person treatment that the COVID-19 pandemic brought about and make it possible for healthcare providers to offer treatment to patients within their own residences and, in that way, make patient security and regulation of the spread of COVID-19 achievable. The extension of coverage is only implemented during the COVID-19 public health crisis, despite increasing requests that for the extended CMS telehealth policies to keep on after the public health crisis is declared ended.
On June 9, 2020, STAT News conducted a virtual conference where CMS Administrator Seema Verma mentioned she backed the fixed expansion of providing telehealth services. The FTC has likewise weighed, with executives giving their backing for the fixed ridding of the geographical limitations and continuing extension of the kinds of services that may be provided through telehealth.
On May 21, there were 32 members of the House who affixed their signature to a letter advocating the Congress to offer telehealth more time to confirm itself and inquired the relaxation of telehealth policies to keep on after the COVID-19 crisis period. The expansion will make certain that enough data is obtained to know which of the new flexibilities must be made fixed.
Lots of providers and patients all over the U.S. have used telehealth services during the period of the public health crisis and telehealth has become popular with health organizations and patients as well. It looks probable that telehealth is not going anywhere soon, and virtual appointments will take the place of in-person care in a number of instances.
Telehealth was made significantly less difficult for healthcare companies by the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, which passed a notice of enforcement discretion declaring that there will not be penalties and sanctions enforced on healthcare organizations for the honest usage of non-HIPAA-compliant communication systems for giving telehealth services. That notice of enforcement discretion is just applicable at the time of the public health crisis, afterward, healthcare companies will be asked to utilize HIPAA-compliant systems. Any health provider that is not yet employing a HIPAA-compliant telehealth app should already look at making the transition.
One HIPAA-compliant program which has become really popular all through the outbreak is TigerTouch from TigerConnect. TigerTouch offers video, voice, and text in one simple mobile and desktop software which makes possible internal communication among care team members and patient communication using the same software. The solution likewise permits the sharing of files and medical pictures and is totally HIPAA-compliant, so ePHI is safely shared. Healthcare companies that have taken the solution report substantial cost reduction, better patient care, enhanced workflow effectiveness, and more pleased employees and patients.
TigerConnect conducted a webinar to exhibit the solution and make clear how the integrations and telehealth options of the technology are helping to advance the quality of patient care, strengthen patient safety, and raise patient approval levels.
View the webinar on-demand on this page.