Keeping up with your health is everything, so why do so many patients have trouble doing this? Well it’s not just apathy or simple inconveniences. There are many reasons that can prevent a patient from either Seeking care when they need it Keeping up with their prescribed care Following through on annual check-ups What are […]
All posts by Lisa Chen
In today’s connected world, a majority of healthcare patients prefer easy access to physician services over in-person office visits. Whether a patient needs advice on a child’s fever, wants clarification on medication or presents with a condition that can be assessed and treated remotely, virtual visits offer on-demand care without the loss of time or the cost […]
In a previous article we observed that nearly every medical specialty in healthcare can incorporate Telehealth; we also saw who the driving force is: Millennials. With over 77 million individuals born between 1982 and 2004, millennials make up nearly 40% of the country’s workforce. Additionally, they are expected to surpass Baby Boomers as the country’s […]
In the past, doctors made regular house calls to provide medical assistance to patients who were homebound because of severe illnesses. This convenience is rarely heard of these days. The need, however, does still exist. In fact, for the more than 100 million Americans suffering from chronic disease, going to an office to receive medical treatment […]
The eNLC Breaks Down Licensure Barriers for Telehealth Nurses For the past eighteen years, the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) has predominantly operated out of twenty-five states. The NLC was a big success for nursing eighteen years ago because it effectively allowed nurses to maintain their license from the state where they were residing, while working in another state without getting an additional […]
Advancements in technology and the growth of the internet have led to dramatic changes in daily life. It has impacted how we communicate, how we travel, how we shop and how we learn. The field of healthcare is no exception. Technology has improved how medical professionals access and share information and provide care to patients. […]
Steady wins the race applies to telehealth’s entry into the mainstream of healthcare. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports that 61% of the nation’s healthcare institutions are employing some sort of telemedicine service, and more and more states are working to come up with viable guidelines for enacting telehealth laws and reimbursement policies. As […]
Almost one hundred years ago, a multi-talented inventor and writer by the name of Hugo Gernsback predicted a technology that would allow a physician to diagnose a patient using video. Today, that technology is known as Telehealth. The concept of Telehealth dates as far back as the invention of the telephone with healthcare professionals consulting […]
Telemedicine: A Key Component of the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018
On Tuesday, April 24, 2018, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) unanimously passed the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018. This bipartisan committee consulted with officials and subject-matter experts from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Substance […]
Telemedicine is Revolutionizing Inmate Care Within Texas Prisons
The healthcare industry is evolving fast to keep up with the demands of our growing population. While you may read about the aging Baby Boomer population as health care’s greatest challenge, other issues require similar attention. Dealing with inmate health in state prisons has become just as much of a hurdle. Telemedicine has already helped […]
Around 70 years ago, Telemedicine made its debut to reach patients in otherwise fairly inaccessible regions where the patients lived. In fact, the first concept for telemedicine was prototyped in the early 20th century in what was known as the ‘Teledactyl,’ a machine that offered a video picture of a patient while a doctor remotely […]
Telehealth provides a number of benefits to patients and providers, such as increased access to care, improved efficiency, and increased communication. However, if you’re using a video conferencing service that is not HIPAA-compliant, you are putting your patients’ protected health information in jeopardy and reducing your credibility as a trustworthy health provider. Consequences of a […]
How State Prisons Use Telemedicine to Improve Care and Reduce Costs
Telemedicine is growing in popularity across numerous industries. One of the most beneficial uses of this technology occurs within the United States prison system. This innovative tech is changing the way we engage with healthcare, particularly in the areas of mental health. Prison operators recognize the enormous benefits of Telemedicine. Here, we examine how state […]
Telemedicine services are an increasingly popular amenity for healthcare providers to offer patients, but unless the video service used is specifically developed for healthcare providers, it is likely in violation of HIPAA and could result in sizable fines. HIPAA Rules The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) contains two rules that dictate how healthcare providers must protect […]
Anyone handling protected health information (PHI), as defined under HIPAA, accepts a strong obligation to protect it. Transferring or storing it insecurely can be very costly. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) collected penalties of over a million dollars six times in 2017 for violations. Five of these cases involved failure to protect electronic data. […]
The Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact (eNLC) has been implemented as of January 19, 2018. This means that any nurse living in an eNLC state can apply for a multistate license and practice in any of the participating states without maintaining individual state licenses. There are currently 29 states opted into the compact but more are expected to follow. […]
The Telehealth services industry has a new victory over a former foe—reimbursement barriers. The 2017 KLAS and CHIME research survey reports that half of the participating health organizations stated that reimbursement was a limitation and a barrier for their Telehealth programs. The latest groundbreaking legislation has removed that barrier. After a five-hour government shutdown, President Trump signed […]
Am I HIPAA compliant? This question ought to be foremost in the minds of medical providers, as the vast implications of HIPAA (or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) can affect pocketbooks and lives. As the field of medicine becomes more technologically entrenched, we need to focus more than ever on how to make […]
House Passes Important Telemedicine Bill Concerning Veterans
Towards the end of 2017, the House passed a major bill concerning all Veterans regarding health care. It’s called the Veterans E-Health and Telemedicine Support Act of 2017 (VETS) (H.R. 2123). In short, the goal is to allow medical professionals the ability to provide Telemedicine services regardless of where the professional or patient is located. […]
On December 14th, 2017 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to repeal net neutrality rules put in place in 2015 under Title II to encourage and protect an open and free internet. The repeal comes as both a surprise and a concern to many American citizens who are unsure how the repeal will affect them, and what […]
Significant legislation concerning Telemedicine and Telehealth Services was enacted in Texas when Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1107 into law on May 27, 2017. The bill removes one of the most significant hurdles for Telemedicine in the state, which is the requirement for a pre-established doctor-patient relationship. In other words, having met in-person before using virtual […]
Telehealth is a way of delivering medical and educational services via virtual technology. With recent advents in technology, along with the increased usage of internet connected mobile devices, Telehealth has become an effective way to enhance the delivery of health and educational services to patients around the world. In particular, Telemedicine is the application of […]
Videoconferencing Technology Reduces Hospital Readmission Rates
Telecommunication tactics are transforming our healthcare platforms. More specifically, using HIPAA compliant videoconferencing to create virtual clinics has majorly opened up the way healthcare is delivered. It does so by creating one centralized, easy to access platform which can integrate with existing EHRs to store patients’ electronic health information. One specific area: Remote patient monitoring […]
The bad news is in: opioids are killing twice as many people each year in the United States than firearm and motor vehicle-related deaths combined. The numbers are truly staggering and they are climbing each year. In the past 20 years, over 300,000 people have died from opioids in the United States. Unfortunately, while the government has made […]
Video conferencing technologies are rapidly gaining traction in the United States as a way to improve access to medical care and reduce rising healthcare costs. Integration of innovative technological tactics, such as Telemedicine and remote patient monitors is already underway as providers and politicians are hopeful this technology will steer healthcare reform in a direction that benefits patients and […]
The Physical Therapy Licensure Compact introduced in 2014 has just met the requirements it needs to allow licensed PTs to provide care across these state boundaries. These are the ten states currently in the compact: – Oregon (The first state to join!) – Arizona – Kentucky – Mississippi – Missouri – Montana – North Dakota […]
After a six-year conflict between the Texas Medical Board and Teladoc, Texas lawmakers just removed a state rule requiring providers to have a face-to-face consultation before providing telemedicine services. This changes the game for residents in who and how those patients access healthcare. [BACKGROUND] In 2011, the Texas Medical Board sent a letter to Teledoc […]
The Affordable Care Act that brought health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans is now being threatened by the GOP’s plan to Repeal & Replace. Under this new plan, our current law requiring insurers to accept all applicants, (at the same rates regardless of pre-existing conditions) is in the talks of being rolled back while […]
Deciding on what to look for when starting a Telehealth solution may seem simple. All you need is video, right? Wrong. That’s why Skype, Facetime, and many other video solutions will never work. High quality video is the most basic need in a video solution, but it’s definitely not the only one. It is as […]
A lot can be said about the GOP’s plan to repeal the ACA, but what can we expect from these changes? And how does it affect Telehealth as we know it? Image from Vocativ. Prior to election, Donald Trump had announced a 10-point plan to reform the VA. In his speech, he highlighted a need […]
10 Companies That Lost Millions For These Avoidable HIPAA Violations
As Telehealth grows and becomes more relevant to healthcare, so too are the protections around it. Through Telehealth, medical providers are creating, storing, exchanging and deleting Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) all the time; but is this safe? Can video streams be tapped without their knowing? Is the information that’s stored online secure? Will PHI […]
For some of the same reasons telemedicine is being welcomed into hospitals, prisons or private practices, we are finding that it’s also gaining popularity with schools. Moving past those general reasons why, here’s what makes telemedicine in schools particularly special: Image from ArkansasOnline: Rural Arkansas schools to go telemedicine route It keeps kids on […]
Image from Telehealth Resource Centers If you’ve been looking for information on Telehealth (what it’s about, reimbursement details, legal information, implementation strategies, etc.) Telehealth Resource Centers can help. TRC is a great resource because it stays up to date and addresses several fundamental questions that arise with this new technology. Examples include: “What is the […]
Photo by IBM Archives In an earlier article we wanted to know the simple differences between the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule. (Check it out here if you haven’t seen it yet). It’s a simple distinction, but what’s not simple is what’s actually in the Security Rule. So if you want to […]
HIPAA’s definition on Administrative Safeguards: “Administrative actions, and policies and procedures, to manage the selection, development, implementation, and maintenance of security measures to protect electronic protected health information and to manage the conduct of the covered entity’s workforce in relation to the protection of that information.” HHS.gov
The First Major Mental Health Legislation in Nearly a Decade – Ready to be Signed by President Obama
Talks about how to improve mental health have long been swept under the rug and kept there, however earlier this year the House of Representatives changed that by introducing the 21st Century Cures Act. The bill emphasizes a parity between mental and physical health and has included grants to increase the number of existing mental […]
Beginning October 1, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) entered a program which required them to reduce payments to Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) hospitals with excessive readmissions. The goal was to promote lasting care for patients before sending them home and to end the “revolving door” of readmissions. A very honorable […]
The First Standalone Telehealth Bill, Spearheaded by Bipartisan Teamwork
In the coming days the Senate will be voting on S.2873, or more commonly known as the ECHO (“Expanding Capacity for Health Outcomes”) Act sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch [R-UT] and Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI]. If passed, this bill would require HHS (Health and Human Services) and HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) to study […]
Donald Trump Just Got Elected President. What Does This Mean for Telehealth?
There’s a lot of uncertainty going around about what the results of this election mean for the nation; healthcare being a major focus. While it’s difficult to determine what will happen with healthcare overall, you can be assured that Telehealth will always be a growing and relevant part of our lives.
HIPAA’s definition on Physical Safeguards: “Administrative actions, and policies and procedures, to manage the selection, development, implementation, and maintenance of security measures to protect electronic protected health information and to manage the conduct of the covered entity’s workforce in relation to the protection of that information.” HHS.gov
HIPAA’s definition of Technical Safeguards: “The technology and the policy and procedures for its use that protect electronic protected health information and control access to it.” HHS.gov
If you’ve been searching around about HIPAA compliance, you’ve probably seen the terms “Privacy” and “Security”. They both relate to compliance on the subject of protecting patient information, but heres the distinction:
SecureVideo Launches First Responder, A Specialized HIPAA-Compliant Videoconferencing Solution
As the industry leader in HIPAA-compliant videoconferencing, SecureVideo is excited to introduce a groundbreaking new service offering; First Responder was designed specifically to meet the needs of EMTs, police, and other first responders as they often find themselves in the field, presented with a situation that could benefit from a consult or a second opinion. […]