The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) recently released their official position statement regarding the use of Telemedicine in their field. In it, the AAN states the Academy's support of this new and life-saving technology. The AAN asserts that Telemedicine should be available to patients in all states. According to their studies, "Telemedicine has been shown to be cost-effective, efficient, and equal in therapeutic value to face-to-face encounters.

Below is an excerpt from the paper. Read the full Position Statement here.

Background Information

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is a professional organization of more than 28,000 practicing neurologists and neuroscientists with a deep and abiding interest in assuring the best possible care of patients with all types of neurologic disorders. With policymakers at the state and federal levels considering new policies regarding telemedicine, and with many neurologists moving to include telemedicine within their practices, it is important for the American Academy of Neurology to have an official position on the issue in order to advocate appropriately for its members.

Description of Issue

With telemedicine rapidly emerging as a form of patient care, it is important that policymakers consider access issues, reimbursement, liability issues, and licensing across state borders when discussing telemedicine policy.

AAN Position

Telemedicine has the potential to deliver more than $6 billion a year in healthcare savings to U.S. companies, according to an analysis by global professional services company Towers Watson.

"While this analysis highlights a maximum potential savings, even a significantly lower level of use could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in savings," said Allan Khoury, M.D., a senior consultant at Towers Watson. "Achieving this savings requires a shift in patient and physician mindsets, health plan willingness to integrate and reimburse such services, and regulatory support in all states."

Among the many barriers to providing care via telemedicine, perhaps the biggest obstacle is the lack of reimbursement for telehealth services. To address the problem, a bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate that seeks to expand telehealth coverage for Medicare beneficiaries and other patients in underserved areas. A companion bill to legislation in the House, the Telehealth Enhancement Act of 2014 would waive statutory Medicare restrictions on telehealth services in order to encourage greater use of telehealth technologies.

Read the rest of the article here.

HIMSS released results from a recent virtual health technology survey that collected 400 responses from hospitals and private practices.

• Nearly 60% of respondents utilize two-way video technologies while 56% use image sharing technology. 44% report using email while only 26% have invested in remote patient monitoring.
   
• 88% of medication management tools are integrated into an organization's EMR. In contrast, only 23% of two-way video users report integrating this service with their EMR.
   
• With regards to the primary drivers for virtual health adoption, 40% are filling gaps in patient care, 15% want to remove barriers to care delivery, and only 3% were primarily driven by cost reduction goals.

For additional survey methodology and results, please reference the following resource: HIMSS Analytics, 2014 Telemedicine Survey.

Source: Sg2

Megan Canter

Director of Telemedicine

HCA Continental Division

4900 S Monaco Street, Suite 380

Denver, CO 80237-3487
303-788-2568 (ofc)

303-717-9995 (cell)

Megan.Canter@HCAHealthcare.com