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A New Map Could Mean Less Money to Expand Broadband for Some States

By News

Source: Route Fifty

By Kery Murakami

In three weeks, the federal government will dole out billions from the infrastructure act to each state to expand broadband service.

To make sure the nearly $42.5 billion goes to where it’s needed most, places with either no or poor internet access will be prioritized using a map from the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC has been scrambling for months now to refine its data in a move that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel described as “another step forward in its iterative effort to develop the best and most accurate broadband maps ever built in the United States.”

The agency last week released a new version that could shift where billions of dollars will be going.

The change could be good news for states like Alaska, which could get about $180 million more than it would have under earlier versions of the map. But Michigan could lose about $400 million to improve broadband service in their state, according to a review of the new FCC data in a newsletter followed by many in the broadband industry.

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South Carolina’s Innovative Broadband Maps Verifies ISPs’ Internet Speeds

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South Carolina performs mapping audits to hold ISPs accountable for coverage claims.

Source: Broadband Breakfast

by: Teralyn Whipple

South Carolina’s innovative state broadband map can accurately identify areas of over-reporting by internet service providers, the director of the state’s broadband office said in a Friday Ask Me Anything! session in the broadband community.

South Carolina processes the same data as does the Federal Communications Commission as it creates its broadband map. However, it also performs audits on the ISPs to ensure they are submitting accurate data. Hence, the state can determine errors in reporting data based on where the ISP’s networks had been deployed previously and where state investments have gone, said Jim Stritzinger, director of the state’s broadband office.

Providers are required to file amended returns with the FCC in the event that South Carolina’s state broadband office flags errors in their reporting information. Errors include misreporting of technology types.

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UK Robot Surgeons Treat Women with Endometriosis

By News

Source: Interesting Engineering

By: Loukia Papadopoulos

The machines cost a whopping $2.5 million each but the patients they treat believe they are well worth the money.

In the UK, robot surgeons that cost a whopping £2 million ($2.5 million) each are helping thousands of women plagued by the painful womb condition endometriosis.

This is according to a report by the Daily Mail published on Saturday.

The remote-controlled machines are being used by NHS Trusts to operate on all the women who missed out on these crucial operations during the Covid pandemic. The devices work with pinpoint accuracy meaning patients recover faster and better with less complications.

Endometriosis is a condition that develops when tissue that would normally line the womb starts to grow in other parts of the body, such as the ovaries, bowel and bladder, even occasionally in the spine, lungs or brain.

Regardless of their new location, they still behaves just like womb tissue, swelling and bleeding every month during a woman’s period, causing intense pain.

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Telehealth Use Rose 1.8% Nationally in March

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Source:  mHEALTH INTELLIGENCE
By Mark Melchionna

According to new data, national telehealth use increased marginally by 1.8 percent, making up 5.6 percent of medical claim lines in March.

June 06, 2023 – Following a slight decline in February, telehealth use increased slightly in March at the national level and in two United States census regions, according to the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.

The FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker is a service that describes how telehealth usage changes monthly by tracking claim lines, procedure codes, and diagnostic categories. The tracker represents a privately insured population, includes Medicare Advantage, and excludes Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Although the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic is not as high as it once was, telehealth remains widely used. The March release of the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker reflected this.

In March, telehealth use increased by 1.8 percent at the national level. It also rose by 2.4 percent in the Midwest and 2.6 percent in the West. In the Northeast and the South, telehealth use stayed the same.

Nationally, telehealth occupied 5.6 percent of claim lines in March, slightly higher than the 5.5 percent reported in February.

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Medicaid Coverage Linked to Rise in Telehealth Use, Healthcare Access

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Source:  mHEALTH INTELLIGENCE

 By Anuja Vaidya

 

Medicaid coverage of telehealth was linked to increases in telehealth use and care access before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but private insurance coverage was not.

Medicaid coverage of telehealth services between 2013 and 2019 was associated with significant increases in telehealth use and healthcare access, but private insurer coverage of telehealth during the same period was not similarly linked to increases in use and access, a recent study shows.

Published in Health Services Research, the study examined the association between state Medicaid and private insurer telehealth coverage requirements, telehealth use, and healthcare access. Researchers analyzed survey data from the 2013-2019 Association of American Medical Colleges Consumer Survey of Health Care Access. The respondents included 4,492 Medicaid-enrolled and 15,581 privately insured adults under 65.

Researchers conducted separate analyses on Medicaid and private insurer telehealth coverage requirements. The primary outcome was the use of live video communication in the past year, and secondary outcomes included same-day appointments, being able to always get needed care, and having enough options for receiving care.

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United States: Medicare Telehealth And The End Of The Public Health Emergency

By News

Source by: Arnold & Porter
by Monique Nolan Amanda Cassidy, MPP and Hannah Leibson

Throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) used a combination of emergency authority waivers, regulations, enforcement discretion, guidance, and reliance on new legislation to provide broad flexibilities under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. With the expiration of the PHE on May 11, 2023, health care providers should be aware of major changes that are in store regarding reimbursement flexibilities related to Medicare telehealth and other types of remote and virtual care.

An area of significant impact is Medicare telehealth services under Section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act, which ordinarily imposes strict requirements for the delivery of such services. During the PHE, CMS exercised various waiver and statutory authorities to remove certain geographic and originating site restrictions, as well as restrictions on who may furnish telehealth services. The agency also allowed for certain telehealth services to be furnished via audio-only communication technology. Altogether, this paved the way for a new landscape of relaxed telehealth flexibilities over the last three years.

Additionally, the COVID-19 PHE was the impetus for new and/or temporary policies by CMS to provide alternatives to face-to-face and in-person encounters between vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries and health care professionals (and each other), such as through remote patient monitoring (RPM), virtual supervision, and the relaxing of face-to-face service requirements. Initially born out of necessity, health providers and beneficiaries have become accustomed to these policies and this new way of furnishing care.

With the end of the PHE, Congress must act if some of these flexibilities are to become permanent fixtures of the Medicare program. At the same time, CMS must grapple with what it can do under its existing authorities, such as the Section 1834(m) Medicare telehealth provision, particularly in light of lessons learned during the PHE. Indeed, the PHE has forced the agency to reevaluate what services are appropriate for telehealth, particularly in the area of behavioral health services which lends itself to virtual telehealth encounters as compared to other services. Additionally, while CMS adopted certain policies on a temporary basis during the PHE, CMS has signaled that it may be open to making such policies permanent. For example, despite its current plans to return to the pre-PHE direct supervision rules, CMS has previously solicited comments about whether to make the temporary exception (direct supervision through virtual presence) permanent or to apply such policies to a subset of services, and sought additional data or evidence that might justify such a change. Accordingly, this is a key time and opportunity for stakeholders and other interested parties to weigh in on these issues, such as in the upcoming Physician Fee Schedule rulemaking cycle for calendar year 2024, to inform future policy development and, where applicable, potentially persuade the agency to restore or retain certain PHE-related exceptions or flexibilities. As several fraud and abuse waivers expire, adherence to the adjusted policies is critical.

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Senators Reintroduce Bill to Improve Maternal Care Through Telehealth

By News

Source: mHealth Intelligence

By Mark Melchionna

 

Two US senators have reintroduced a piece of bipartisan legislation to enhance the maternal care process through telehealth and other digital tools.

 – US Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) have reintroduced bipartisan legislation known as the Tech to Save Moms Act, which aims to leverage telehealth and digital health technology to promote maternal care outcomes.

The disparities common in healthcare are amplified among US patients seeking maternal care, making the US maternal death rate far higher than that of other comparably resourced countries. These are often racial and ethnicity-based healthcare disparities.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women in the US was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021. This rate was 2.6 times greater than that of non-Hispanic White women.

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Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications

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Source:  Federal Register

A Rule by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Health and Human Services Department on 05/10/2023

AGENCY:

Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION:

Temporary rule.

SUMMARY:

On March 1, 2023 the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in concert with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), promulgated two notices of proposed rulemakings (NPRMs) soliciting comments on proposals to allow for prescribing of controlled medications pursuant to the practice of telemedicine in instances where the prescribing practitioner has never conducted an in-person medical evaluation of the patient. Those NPRMs resulted in 38,369 public comments, which are being closely reviewed. DEA, in concert with HHS, is considering revisions to the proposed rules set forth in the NPRMs. In the meantime, and following initial review of the comments received, DEA, jointly with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is issuing this temporary rule to extend certain exceptions granted to existing DEA regulations in March 2020 as a result of the COVID–19 Public Health Emergency (COVID–19 PHE), in order to avoid lapses in care for patients. Ultimately, there will be a final set of regulations permitting the practice of telemedicine under circumstances that are consistent with public health, safety, and effective controls against diversion.

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The Pandemic-Era Rule That Lets You Get Telehealth Prescriptions Just Got Extended

By News

Source: NPR

When COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency more than three years ago, it signaled the beginning of huge change for the health care industry.

That was especially true for telehealth.

Under relaxed regulations, patients could more easily connect by phone or Zoom to doctors many miles away, or get prescriptions from a specialist to treat conditions like ADHD or opioid use disorder.

The federal declaration — and the pandemic policies tied to it — officially ends on Thursday, but patients may not see any big changes in the care they receive via telehealth, at least not yet.

Federal policymakers are allowing these more expansive telehealth services to remain in place temporarily, thanks in part to a last-minute about-face by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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Telehealth is here to stay, survey shows. How should the industry adapt?

By News

Source: Fierce Pharma

Telehealth use skyrocketed early in the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for a significant share of all doctors’ appointments at its peak. And while virtual visits have since dipped in volume, telehealth still supports millions of appointments each year. But will the trend continue?

Data from a Phreesia survey completed by nearly 2,000 patients suggests that it will. In 2022, 36% of patients who checked in for a doctor’s appointment on Phreesia’s platform reported having had a virtual healthcare visit in the past six months. Satisfaction was high, with 71% of those recent telehealth users saying they were very or extremely satisfied with virtual visits as a care option.

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