President Obama’s health care law was supposed to increase access to health care, lower costs and improve the quality. But even defenders of the law are beginning to realize that it won’t achieve its goals.
The good news is that technology can—and will.
Take the case of telemedicine, which one bill helpfully defines as “the delivery of healthcare services through the use of interactive audio, video or other electronic media used for the purpose of diagnosis, consultation or treatment.”
Essentially, telemedicine allows a doctor to see a patient located in a different place, usually by some type of video connection. Studies, especially some done by the Veterans Administration with soldiers in the field who can’t easily get to a physician, have shown very good results.
Progress has hit some logjams, but that is changing. One is the issue of reimbursement.
Historically, insurance companies have restricted their reimbursement schedules to pay for only those doctors’ visits handled in person. According to the American Telemedicine Association, 16 states have passed legislation requiring health insurers to reimburse for telemedicine services just as they would in-patient visits. And seven more have introduced similar legislation.
However, the better approach is for health insurers to see the value and create a workable reimbursement scheme. And that is beginning to happen. For example, Wellpoint, the nation’s second largest health insurance, will begin covering tele-visits with doctors through computers and mobile devices.
The other drawback is state medical licensing laws. Seeing a doctor remotely, but who is in the same state as the patient, doesn’t usually raise red flags. But if the doctor is in a different state, medical licensing laws will likely create a problem.
That state border distinction is a lot more important to a state medical association than to a patient. It’s a barrier that will likely fall at some point.
And it makes sense. While some standards need to be established and maintained—For example, are some medical conditions better suited for telemedicine? Should a doctor see a patient in person first and then follow up with a tele-visit?—accessing physicians through a computer or mobile device is coming. It’s part of the mobile revolution reshaping the U.S. health care system.
February 21, 2013