The Current Healthcare Payment System Essay

In the United States, a renewed interest occurred in telehealth in the 1990s according to McGonigle and Mastrian because of escalating costs, the need for greater access for all

Telehealth has been a large topic of debate in recent years because of the economic, political, and regulatory points of view. In deciding outcomes in these areas, it is the responsibility of all healthcare professions to identify information gaps in order to come to the more rational and beneficial conclusion about telehealth (Grace, 2014). Economically, there are concerns regarding the access and affordability of telehealth equipment. At the same time, telehealth is being adapted in ways to be utilized with technological devices that many individuals already have access to like telephones, cellular phones, and personal computers/laptops. Telehealth can positively impact both clients and providers by increasing access to care and reducing the time and costs associated with traveling for health care (Allen, Aylott, Loyola, Moric, & Saffarek, 2015). As telehealth develops technological devices can be made more affordable and can be covered by insurance policies (Thomas et al., 2014). Many nurses functioning as case managers can help provide the tools and resources individuals require to manage their health.

Qualitative reports on 12 peer reviewed articles were researched through the University of Maryland to get information on the cost effectiveness, clinical efficacy, individual and provider satisfaction. The 12 articles printed dates ranged from 200 and 2014. The articles represented articles that have been published on the topic of telemedicine subject in various areas. The review articles began with searching the database looking for articles on telemedicine and found a possible 100 articles on the topic and were narrowed down to just a few dozen that fit the standards the matter was searching for.

Telemedicine should be expanded as it saves great costs in transportation and security needs (Schaenman, 2013). This system allows an inmate to see a doctor via a 2-way

Assist and advise government relations staff of partnered hospital systems in lobbying legislators to compose favorable telemedicine bill language

Per the healthit.gov website, telehealth is different from telemedicine, because it refers to a broader scope of remote healthcare services than telemedicine. While telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical services, telehealth can refer to remote non-clinical services, such as provider training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education, in addition to clinical services. According to healthit.gov, the Health Resources Services Administration defines telehealth as “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.” Medicare defines it as “Telehealth (or Telemonitoring) is the use of telecommunications and information technology to provide access to health assessment, diagnosis, intervention, consultation, supervision and information across distance.”

Currently, our Kirkland based clinic works with 40 children on an average week. Our Bellingham location only sees 20 children. We have the ability to reach out to far more clients and provide them even more assistance then we ever thought were capable. Telehealth is an up and coming new wave of both technology and healthcare. The basic foundational idea of telehealth is that the therapist has the ability to treat the client via electronic means such as iPad, webcams and phones. It opens the door for patients to overcome barriers and receive the proper healthcare that they need and may have missed out on thus far. Washington is in the forefront of bringing this form of healthcare to the surface by passing bill #6519. I have included the link for this bill so that you may look into more information and history of the bill if you wish. As you can see, this bill showcases that we are legally able to provide this service as long as we are providing treatment to those that are in the state of which we are licensed.

Additionally, the Chief Actuary of CMS must also certify such expansion would not reduce net program spending in order to gain coverage under Medicare. This bill does allow for store-and forward technologies to be utilized in telehealth services for chronic illnesses.

Often the biggest barriers to accessing healthcare are cost and location. Lower income individuals just do not have the resources to have optimal healthcare, or cannot take the time away from employment to deal with health issues. One potential solution to help with these problems could be “telehealth.” Telehealth allows a lower level healthcare practitioner to communicate with a physician or specialists when necessary. Remote rural areas use a Physician Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner on location in remote areas.

In 2010 a study was completed in the state of California in order to evaluate the efficacy of telemedicine to reduce barriers to healthcare in rural populations (Ritter, L., Robinette, T., & Cofano, J., 2010). The assessment was made in 33 counties throughout California and was accomplished through patient satisfaction survey. The ultimate result of the survey was that telemedicine can improve access to care for people in rural settings, along with those who live in situations that make it difficult to access care.

There are so many hours in a day. The Federal Government wants to expand Healthcare to more and more U.S. citizens at the same time it also wants to reduce the amount of money provided to the Medical professionals for services rendered. The Government has created a telephone book size manual that deals with everything from patient care to doctor reimbursement for the care. It makes doctors into robots and patients into pawns. Telemedicine seeks to improve the lives of patients and of medical professionals alike. By removing most of the barriers, between patient and doctor such as distance, charts, and x-rays as well as medical history and billing, now even on the remotest areas on the planet a mobile phone can connect you to life saving medical help thousands of miles away.

Hence, the findings through the American Medical Association (AMA) telemedicine technology has the possibility to renovate health care delivery and address numerous care coordination challenges facing the U.S. health care system, which can enable remote, mobile and site-to-site medical care. Moreover, telemedicine primarily the key innovation in support of health care delivery enhancement used in initiatives to increase access to care, care coordination and quality and properly used has the potential to decrease the rate of growth in health care spending. However, there are three broad categories of telemedicine technologies such as store-and-forward, remote monitoring, and real-time, interactive services.

There is an increasing need within the U.S. for quality health care to be provided to individuals who have limited access whether it is due to a rural environment, disabilities, or in the field of battle. Telemedicine is literally medicine provided at a distance. Telehealth is able to alleviate some of the effects of a growing shortage of professionals such as primary care physicians. In this type of health care delivery, the dynamics between the patient and the entire health care system changes. Telemedicine meets the increasing demands of patients to have greater access, or responsiveness, from a health care provider. It also meets the needs of the provider who is very interested in time-saving, safety-enhancing assistance in their daily practice. Employers and health plans are also very interested in telemedicine as a means of improving compliance with treatment plans and care management initiatives (Hodgkins, 2008). The use of email also allows the patient to have increased access to their health care providers. Instead of calling their health care provider’s office, patients are now able to email their non-emergent health care questions to their provider. Conversely, health care providers are able to email patients reminders for appointments or wellness tips.

There are several forms of technology that is used to monitor, assist patients with self-care management, assist physicians with delivering care to their patients, including consultation with specialist, and overcoming barriers with transportation. “60% of the healthcare executives, physicians, and nurses in this inaugural survey said that telemedicine was a high priority for 2015“ (Vockley, 2015, para. 7) Telemedicine

Also, the suggestions provided to help with the research seems appropriate. One suggestion that can be added to the list is to include the pharmacies (private or government) in the telemedicine plan as there may be some times when a person is not able to go the pharmacy to pick up their medicine and the pharmacies can deliver the same to the address. This means that during the discussion, one more party have to be on-board for the development and implementation of telemedicine systems that is the pharmacies that are affiliated to the medical facilities.