First few Article Sentences
Telemedicine is on the cusp of a healthcare revolution. But we have more to do to enable all people, no matter age, location or their health insurance coverage, to be able to utilize the technology that is available. Private insurance and Medicaid Managed Care Plans have adopted it. The last frontier are those who are covered under Medicare plans. CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services) is slow to make the changes that in 2014 were implemented for a 4-year phase-in, until all patients would be covered. In the news today the American Association of Family Physicians is taking CMS to task for elements of the 2017 Medicare physician fee schedule (the actual schedule should come out in November of this year) that hinder Telemedicine reimbursements for store-and-forward, observational care and ED services. Store-and-forward (electronic communication sent to an intermediate site verifying the integrity of the message).