Janice Lea, MD, professor in the Division of Renal Medicine, was featured in the Healio Nepholrolgy News & Issues piece, “‘There’s no place like home’: Speaker reviews telehealth during COVID-19 pandemic.” Read an excerpt of the article below.
A speaker at the virtual Global Innovations in Patient-Centered Kidney Care: International Summit reviewed the benefits of telehealth, which was expanded by CMS in March as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Janice Lea, MD, MSc, FASN, professor of medicine and director of telenephrology at Emory University, first defined telehealth as an “umbrella term for all services that utilize some type of technology” and telemedicine as that which centers on clinical services for patient care.
“We’ve been in a very serious pandemic that has limited a lot of contact in all areas of our lives, including medical appointments,” she told the audience. “There’s been an urgency to expand the use of technology to help people who need routine care and, at the same time, to keep vulnerable persons and those with mild symptoms at home while maintaining access to the care they need.”
With the implementation of the 1135 waiver (also known as the CARES Act), CMS allowed for Medicare to pay for hospital, office or other visits that were conducted via telehealth across the country. According to Lea, prior to the waiver, the patients’ place of residency determined ability to access telehealth services; only patients living in rural areas were covered for these visits and sometimes the patient would still need to travel to a nearby clinic to remotely interact with a physician. Now, visits can occur in the home and Medicare beneficiaries can also undergo medical health counseling and preventive health screenings. Virtual check-ins (5- to 10-minute phone calls between the patient and physician), electronic visits through an online portal and inpatient remote consultations are all part of the expansion of telehealth, Lea said.
She emphasized the value of doctor-patient interactions conducted via telehealth while the patient is hospitalized, noting that facilities can use less personal protective equipment (PPE) and limit potential exposure to the virus for both patients and physicians.
Another benefit for physicians, Lea said, is that they are reimbursed for these telehealth visits at a rate equal to physically seeing patients in a room.
In addition to the benefits of telehealth in these realms, Lea addressed using telehealth for outpatient dialysis visits.
She said this CMS allowance is worth noting because dialysis personnel have never before been able to conduct their rounds via telemedicine.
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