Telehealth Prominent on CMS Website

In the isn't interesting category, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) has given Telehealth a prominent place on its new website.  Let's hope this a harbinger of future visibility and interest by CMS. 

CA Provides Telemedicine Statewide to 90,000 Employees

Jan. 1, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and Blue Cross of California implemented a high-speed telecommunication pilot program to link members in remote rural areas with health care specialists making telemedicine available to the ~90,000 CalPERS members who live in rural areas. The program facilitates consultations between patients and their primary physicians with specialists in cardiology, dermatology, pediatric neurology and psychiatry at the University of California-Davis, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and other locations.  CalPERS is the first employer in California to provide full telemedicine coverage to its employees.

Senator John Thune Introduces Telehomecare Legislation; Express Strong Support for Telehealth

On September 14, 2005. South Dakota Senator John Thune introduced the Fostering Independence Through Technology (FITT) Act of 2005 (S. 1733) in an effort to bring medicine to people who live in medically underserved areas or are too frail or too ill to leave the comfort of their homes.   

Thune stated, “The practice of telemedicine has been under-utilized and under-funded despite numerous studies praising the ability of telehealth to deliver care to individuals in remote areas”  and called on Congress to “work towards breaking down the legal, financial, and regulatory barriers that are preventing the implementation of telehealth and technology into the delivery of health care.”  Read Senator Thune's Floor Statement.

Thune’s bill, S. 1733, requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to create demonstration or pilot projects that would encourage home health agencies to utilize remote monitoring technology as a means of enhancing health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries and creating cost savings for Medicare.  Participants in the pilot will receive incentive payments based on a percentage of the Medicare savings realized as a result of the project.  

OFFICE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TELEHEALTH, Health Services Resources Administration, HHS

The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth is authorized under the Health Services Resources Administration (HRSA), Department for Health and Human Services. 

HRSA established the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth to serve as a leader in telehealth, a focal point for HRSA’s telehealth activities, and as a catalyst for the wider adoption of advanced technologies in the provision of health care services and education.  OAT is responsible for leading, coordinating and promoting the use of telehealth technologies by:

• Fostering partnerships within HRSA, and with other Federal agencies, states and private sector groups to create telehealth projects;
• Administering telehealth grant programs;
• Providing technical assistance;
• Evaluating the use of telehealth technologies and programs;
• Developing telehealth policy initiatives to improve access to quality health services; and,
• Promoting knowledge exchange about "best telehealth practices."

Since 1989, OAT has awarded over $250 million in grants to grantees in 49 states and 3 jurisdictions.  These grants have in large measure seeded the telehealth field, enabling programs to purchase equipment and attempt innovative projects that most likely would not’t have been attempted otherwise.  In the process thousands upon thousands of lives have been touched by telehealth, many in rural, remote, and frontier areas. 

While Congressionally mandated projects have increased dramatically from 13 projects totaling $16 million in FY 2000 to 77 projects totaling $31.6 million in FY 2005, OAT’s programmatic budget has decreased over the past five years. The decrease in its programmatic budget has prevented OAT from funding either the Telehealth Network (THGP) or the Telehealth Resource Center Cooperative Agreement Programs (TRCCP), which would systematically collect best telehealth practices and serve as a repository for information on things such as licensure, reimbursement, malpractice, etc.  See OAT Funding Chart.

Funding and reimbursement for telehealth remains one of the foremost barriers to the growth of telehealth. 

Judge Dismisses Vermont's Suit Over Drug Imports

In a first of its kind lawsuit, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the state of Vermont against the U.S. government for refusing to approve the state's program on importing prescription drugs, according the Associated Press. The judge said that the state failed to show that the Food and Drug Administration was responsible for certifying Vermont's plan to import cheaper, prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. The trial judge praised Vermont's efforts to lower costs for patients, but said "the issue before the court is the legality rather than the merit" of the plan. Vermont called on the federal government to waive its rule prohibiting imports.  The Vermont program would have let nearly 20,000 state employees, retirees and their families import prescription drugs from Canada at a substantial savings. Several other state governments have launched such programs.  

Stay tuned for more information about the drug reimportation issue, which is of interest to the telehealth community because of proposed federal legislation that could require in person visits before a prescription can be written.