Telemedicine has gained momentum with insurers as they better understand how to use the new services, even as they sometimes face opposition from varied regulations, The Business Times reports that telemedicine continues to gain insurers’ approval. No surprise there: It could save them a lot of money.
Interestingly, says the publication, “Some hospitals are using telemedicine as an early form of triage for more serious conditions. ‘If it’s an acute problem, even though telemedicine doesn’t have the completeness of being in person, the value is exponentially higher,’said Randall Moore, president of Mercy Virtual in Missouri, which describes itself as a virtual care facility, in which doctors monitor patients remotely via electronic hook-ups to medical devices; patients may be at home or in a Mercy hospital.”
Still, there continues to be substantial pushback from some physician groups, and each state’s regulatory system is approaching the rise of telemedicine a bit differently.
