Is Telemedicine Ready for Prime Time?

Home healthcare is one of those categories that CE pros should naturally consider, but has yet to become mainstream.

One home healthcare category, telemedicine, holds promise but needs some changes, according to the American Heart Association.

"Telemedicine is an effective avenue to eliminate disparities in access to acute stroke care, erasing the inequities introduced by geography, income or social circumstance," says Lee Schwamm, M.D., lead author of a scientific statement and policy statement on telemedicine, and associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and Vice Chairman of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Telemedicine would allow healthcare providers to see patients via Webcam or a connected display using videoconferencing to diagnose any ailments, including strokes.

But, according to the Heart Association, more needs to be done to make telemedicine a mainstream option.

A new policy statement suggests:

• Deploying telestroke systems to supplement resources where around-the-clock local, on-site acute stroke expertise is insufficient.
• Increasing Medicare reimbursement for telestroke assessment, diagnosis and approval to use tPA to reflect the increased upfront costs of implementation.
• Developing a mechanism for uniform, streamlined credentialing for telestroke providers and uniform national telemedicine licensure by state medical boards.
• Increasing funding sources for stroke telemedicine programs which could include designating support from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

As the number of home health technology users increases, you need to find out if it is right for you.