As the pandemic ramped up, and hospitals faced a surge in patients with telemedicine conditions providers can diagnose and treat remotely. At the same time, the lack of onsite infectious disease (ID) specialists became critical. The confluence of a specialist shortage and a telemedicine solution led many hospitals to seek out emergency hospital telemedicine programs.…
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Programs designed to lower hospital readmissions often focus on patient characteristics associated with reimbursement penalties assessed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). This approach makes a lot of sense because the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) only reduces payment for readmissions associated with certain diagnoses — acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia and…
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Hospitals across the U.S. are expanding the ways they tackle hospital readmission rates in the age of COVID-19. With the help of telemedicine, hospitals are implementing procedures that better prepare at-risk patients for discharge. More than 35 million hospital discharges happen annually in the United States alone. Hospitals readmit nearly 20% of Medicare discharges within…
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Hospitals are working to drive down 30-day readmission rates for the benefit of patients, and to avoid reimbursement cuts by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). In our third post on the impact of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), we discuss: Where patients with conditions associated with HRRP penalties are admitted to the…
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Pediatric Telemedicine can solve the difficulty community hospitals are facing recruiting and retaining pediatric physicians. And with the rising number of children with chronic health problems, the shortage these hospitals face today is expected to intensify in upcoming years. Eagle’s TeleHospitalist Dr. Rebecca Jentzen is a new mom who believes in the value of TelePediatrics.…
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With healthcare moving from fee-for-service to value-based care and with the increased focus on population health and patient satisfaction, telemedicine can help reduce physician burnout and care gaps that lead to higher readmission rates. In our last article, Can Better Diagnoses, Prescriptions Help with Hospital Readmission Reduction Program Initiatives?, we discussed how telemedicine can support…
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Tele-NICU provides a highly experienced neonatologist at a moment’s notice 24/7/365. Anywhere in the U.S., any rural or suburban hospital can have the expertise of a neonatologist who can “beam in” via a high-tech audio-visual cart. Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) generate considerable revenue for hospitals. But in small community hospitals, there often is no…
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Telemedicine programs may seem revolutionary. The concept of a physician “beaming” into a hospital room may seem like Star Trek Healthcare. You may wonder at the efficacy, when the physician is a face on a TV monitor. Truth is, telemedicine programs are proven effective in medical care — with highly skilled medical Specialists, advanced audio/video/sensory…
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The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), which is managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), reduces payments to hospitals with excessive readmissions. High readmission rates can contribute to significant damage to a hospital’s financial health. What actions can hospitals take to lower readmissions? The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimates patients…
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Early in this series, we discussed the need to lift CMS virtual care and telehealth restrictions related to the patient’s originating site and attending physician. Today we focus on reimbursement parity for inpatient telemedicine. When the needs of patients suffering from the novel coronavirus triggered changes to CMS reimbursement policies, many private health insurers also…
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