Eric Wicklund
The latest in mobile health innovations – from smartphone apps to telehealth tools – might at first be considered in the vein of improving clinical outcomes. But providers, payers and vendors will quickly point out that they can save the healthcare system a lot of money, too.
Faced with an endless cycle of non-urgent visits to the doctor or, worse, the emergency room, employers and health plans are looking to telemedicine for an easier way to connect the stuffy nose – or the sprained ankle, or the upset stomach – to the doctor. Those connections are now being made online or though phone calls engineered by companies like Teladoc, Stat Health Services and American Well.
Short of handing the bill to a patient being wheeled into the hospital, ambulance services often have a difficult time recouping their expenses. In the aftermath of the emergency, that ambulance bill always seems to find its way to the back of the pile of unopened or neglected mail.
One of the country's largest Medicaid insurers, AmeriHealth Mercy, has announced plans to equip more than 150 primary care physicians in Pennsylvania with mobile devices that will have access to their patients' health plan-based information, enabling them to keep track of prescriptions and receive important clinical alerts at the point of care.
Two healthcare IT vendors are joining forces to give providers a single platform that can handle both billing and claims editing services.
The MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service, which offers 911 services for Georgia's capital and surrounding communities, is implementing Zepherella's PatientPay service to give patients an online platform to review and pay their bills.
Mobile apps might be getting all the headlines for their clinical uses, but they have benefits at the back end of the operational chain as well, as Novation is proving.
Two prominent healthcare organizations are seeking subscription-based affiliations with single-specialty practices to build their outpatient networks at a time when hospital-based revenues are declining. The decision may also be seen as laying the first blocks of a foundation for an accountable care organization.
The New Jersey company, which works with payers, employers and others to tailor incentive-based preventive health and wellness programs for members and employees, has enhanced its platform to deal with specific conditions, such as diabetes and COPD.
Fifteen community groups across the state will receive more than $5 million in funding to help push telehealth services to those who need it most, resulting in better access to healthcare and reducing costs.