Today, leadership at the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) stated that use of virtual care is here to stay. Almost all providers who would entertain virtual health delivery in response to the COVID pandemic have signed onto “a” system at this point. However, one of the big questions at play is whether providers will stick to their current systems or jump ship to another platform once they get their initial experiences with these telehealth and remote patient monitoring platforms.
Physicians in all fields of care have a number of primary concerns that need to be addressed as virtual patient care becomes standardized in today’s healthcare environment. Virtual care solution companies must work together with healthcare providers, understand their needs and create platforms that make sense for current care delivery environments.
TOP THINGS PROVIDERS CARE ABOUT:
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Reimbursement: Reimbursement is an important concern to healthcare providers and key to remaining competitive. Meeting the current and future demands of virtual care from their patients, they need the ability to function while adhering to current and emerging regulations for reimbursement, especially in the next coming months. Criteria for billing options within those platforms must be approved and cleared by regulatory bodies, such as the FDA, under the evolving environment for virtual health.
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Robustness: Virtual care systems must be robust systems that can accept increased patient load in regard to bandwidth, data exchange, and scheduling capabilities. Such a platform must also be able to scale across a physician’s practice with all their patients and allow for practice growth.
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Training and Support: Virtual care product companies must provide adequate training and support for client usage. Getting up and running, availability for tech support for any issues that come up, and helping with HIPAA compliance are at the top of that list.
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EHR Integration: EHR integration along with e-prescribing and remote patient monitoring potentials also need to be part of the virtual care platform. Well-integrated systems will eliminate the need for dual documentation (EHR record and virtual platform), improve workflows, and provide the ability to document in different contexts/specialties.
We will keep you posted on regulatory and platform developments. In our next blog, we’ll take a closer look at EHR integration. Stay tuned.
