News

HIPAA Modernization by Senate Commision 2022

HIPAA Commission Formed

Press Release

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) today introduced the Health Data Use and Privacy Commission Act to begin the process of modernizing our outdated health privacy laws and regulations. The presence of technology companies is increasing in health care, and health information is expanding beyond the reach of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA is an over 25-year-old law that protects all interactions between patients and their doctors, but does not protect health data recorded on emerging technologies (cell phones, smart watches, etc.) which puts this data at significant potential risk.

This legislation forms a health and privacy commission to research and give official recommendation to Congress on how to modernize the use of health data and privacy laws to ensure patient privacy and trust while balancing the need of doctors to have information at their fingertips to provide care.

“As a doctor, the potential of new technology to improve patient care seems limitless. But Americans must be able to trust that their personal health data is protected if this technology can meet its full potential,” said Dr. Cassidy. “HIPAA must be updated for the modern day. This legislation starts this process on a pathway to make sure it is done right.”

“Folks across Wisconsin and the country are rightfully concerned about the security of their personal information, especially individual health care data, and it is time to give Americans better protection over these records,” said Senator Baldwin. “I am excited to introduce the bipartisan Health Data Use and Privacy Commission Act to help inform how we can modernize health care privacy laws and regulations to give Americans peace of mind that their personal health information is safe, while ensuring that we have the tools we need to advance high-quality care.”

This legislation is supported by American College of Cardiology, Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, Association of Clinical Research Organizations, athenahealth, Inc, Epic Systems Corporation, Executives for Health Innovation, Federation of American Hospitals, Heath Innovation Alliance, IBM, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Teladoc Health and United Spinal Association.

The Health Data Use and Privacy Commission Act would establish a commission to –

Conduct a coordinated and comprehensive review and comparison of existing protections of personal health information at the state and federal level, as well as current practices for health data use by the health care, insurance, financial services, consumer electronics, advertising, and other industries;
Provide recommendations to Congress on whether federal legislation is needed to modernize health data privacy, and if so, how to do it; and
Be charged with submitting a report to Congress and the President six months after all members are appointed, and include 17 members to be appointed by the Comptroller General.

Specifically, the Commission is charged with drafting recommendations and conclusions on the following:

The potential threats posed to individual health privacy and legitimate business and policy interests.
The purposes for which sharing health information is appropriate and beneficial to consumers and the threat to health outcomes and costs if privacy rules are too stringent.
The effectiveness of existing statutes, regulations, private sector self-regulatory efforts, technology advances, and market forces in protecting individual health privacy.
Recommendations on whether federal legislation is necessary, and if so, specific suggestions on proposals to reform, streamline, harmonize, unify, or augment current laws and regulations relating to individual health privacy, including reforms or additions to existing law related to enforcement, preemption, consent, penalties for misuse, transparency, and notice of privacy practices.
Analysis of whether additional regulations may impose costs or burdens, or cause unintended consequences in other policy areas, such as security, law enforcement, medical research, health care cost containment, improved patient outcomes, public health or critical infrastructure protection, and whether such costs or burdens are justified by the additional regulations or benefits to privacy, including whether such benefits may be achieved through less onerous means.
The cost analysis of legislative or regulatory changes proposed in the report.
Recommendations on non-legislative solutions to individual health privacy concerns, including education, market-based measures, industry best practices, and new technologies.
Review of the effectiveness and utility of third-party statements of privacy principles and private sector self-regulatory efforts, as well as third-party certification or accreditation programs meant to ensure compliance with privacy requirements.

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Endorsement Letter

February 9, 2022
Senator Bill Cassidy
520 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Senator Tammy Baldwin
709 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senators Cassidy and Baldwin,

We write to thank you for your leadership in introducing the Health Data Use and Privacyv Commission Act. The Commission established by this bill will make recommendations to Congress to help modernize health data use and privacy policies to ensure clear, consistent, and reliable patient protections while simultaneously ensuring health data gets where it needs to go to improve care and outcomes.

As the nation continues to adopt new and evolving technologies that surround everyday life and digitize nearly every interaction we have, personal privacy has never been a more important issue for policymakers. Congress is considering comprehensive privacy reform – and we support
these efforts – but most of these conversations are focused on consumer technology and data.

Health data is either carved out of these proposals or included in a new category of “consumer health data” which could lead to many entities being subject to duplicative requirements. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) law that led to today’s HIPAA Privacy Rule was passed over 25 years ago, and while HIPAA is still functioning well, it does not address the growing concerns regarding third-party applications or other technologies accessing health data that fall outside of HIPAA’s reach. Providers, health plans, and other covered entities and their business associates covered by the Privacy Rule as well as the patients they serve need clarity and consistency in health data privacy and use rules.

Given the advancements Congress has made in improving the interoperability of health care information and systems, your efforts to ensure robust consideration of health care data and privacy through the Health Data Use and Privacy Commission will provide useful perspective to the ongoing privacy debate. Secure and private health information should not be the enemy of medical innovation, clinical process improvement, or public health response. Careful consideration of these issues by the commission will inform policy makers to achieve the necessary balance of data liquidity and confidentiality necessary for a highly functional and trusted health system.

According to the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), “state-level momentum for comprehensive privacy bills is at an all-time high.”1 The patchwork of proposals across all 50 states could lead to further complexity and compliance burdens. According to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, should all 50 states pass privacy legislation in the absence of a federal law, compliance costs “could exceed $1 trillion over 10 years, with at least $200 billion hitting small businesses.”2 All of this stresses the need for a federal law governing data privacy, and there are at least 24 proposals related to data privacy before the 117th Congress according to the IAPP.3

As Congress considers privacy reform, your privacy commission will add much needed recommendations specific to the future of health information privacy and use. This issue is far too important to the functioning of our health care system and the trust of patients to get wrong,
and we appreciate your thoughtful legislation to help get these policies right. We look forward to working with you on passing the Health Data Use and Privacy Commission Act into law.

Sincerely,
American College of Cardiology
Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness
Association of Clinical Research Organizations
athenahealth, Inc
Epic Systems Corporation
Executives for Health Innovation
Federation of American Hospitals
Heath Innovation Alliance
IBM
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Teladoc Health
United Spinal Association

Amazon Telehealth – Amazon Care Expanding To 20 Cities

Amazon Telehealth 2022

From Amazon

In-person care services are expanding to more than 20 new cities in 2022, bringing even more care options to Amazon Care’s growing customer base.

Amazon Care launched in September 2019 to bring the most patient-centric health care to customers when and where they need it. Amazon Care combines the best of virtual care and in-person services, and as more and more organizations look for convenient, comprehensive, high-quality health care solutions, we’re seeing growing demand and excitement for Amazon Care’s unique hybrid care offering.

Amazon Care’s virtual health services are now available nationwide—and in-person services will be rolled out in more than 20 new cities this year. The expansion comes as we continue to invest in growing our clinical care team and our in-person care services to bring convenient, quality care to more customers across the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased demand to bring care to patients’ homes—whether that be virtually or through in-home care services. Amazon Care is uniquely positioned to fill a critical gap in the health care system because it combines the best of virtual care with a new approach to in-person care. The combination allows patients to receive a wider range of care, from on-demand primary care to chronic care management, in the comfort of their home. Care Medical doctors and nurses across the country are dedicated to treating Amazon Care customers, so patients are able to build lasting relationships with their health care providers over time.

How Amazon Pharmacy works: Save time, save money, stay healthy

Amazon Pharmacy makes it easier for customers to access the medications they need at affordable prices.

Working in lockstep with our customers to address their growing needs, Amazon Care is on track to rapidly expand in-person care locations throughout 2022. The service is already available in Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Arlington. In 2022, we plan to bring in-person care services to more than 20 additional cities—including major metropolitan areas like San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, and New York City—so customers can access care where and when they need it most.

With a patient satisfaction rating of 4.7 out of 5, Amazon Care is becoming the partner of choice for organizations looking to advance workplace benefits. New customers including Silicon Labs, TrueBlue, and Whole Foods Market have joined the lineup of companies offering Amazon Care to their employees nationwide. The companies said three key differentiators stood out: Amazon Care’s comprehensive solution; on-demand access to high-quality clinicians through Care Medical, Amazon Care’s clinical services provider; and a seamless patient experience.

“Patients are tired of a health care system that doesn’t put them first. Our patient-centric service is changing that, one visit at a time,” says Kristen Helton, director of Amazon Care. “We’ve brought our on-demand urgent and primary care services to patients nationwide. As we grow the service, we’ll continue to work with our customers to address their needs.”

Amazon Care provides immediate access to a wide range of urgent and primary care services, including COVID-19 and flu testing, vaccinations, treatment of illnesses and injuries, preventive care, sexual health, and prescription requests and refills. When issues can’t be resolved over video, Amazon Care will dispatch a nurse practitioner to a patient’s home for additional care where in-person care is available, ranging from routine blood draws to listening to a patient’s lungs.

Learn more about Amazon Care.

Here is the video that Amazon would like you watch..they call it a film.
Amazon Care Website
We tried availability search by zip but it does not seem to work

Telehealth Cost — Initial Cost of Telehealth and its Payback

Nice writeup from AMD Telemedicine

Jan 6, 2022 | Blog

Why the Benefits Outweigh the Initial Cost of Implementing Telehealth

Healthcare organizations around the world are faced with a lot of uncertainty right now and have to make pretty major decisions about their course of action to survive in the new hybrid model of healthcare delivery. What areas do they need to invest in today to survive tomorrow?

Virtual care delivery models have come to the forefront of how both patients and healthcare organizations have survived through the pandemic. Costs for sustainable telehealth programs can seem prohibitive, especially when organizations are still grappling with the effects of COVID-19 on their revenue streams. However, while there is an initial upfront cost to implement telehealth and telemedicine technology, it tells only one chapter of the full financial story.

Telehealth services can have a positive downstream impact on revenue as they increase patient satisfaction and boost key metrics like patient retention and overall ROI. In time, telehealth implementation can bring healthcare organizations more opportunities to recoup initial expenditures and make future care more affordable through cost savings and increased revenue.

How Can a Telehealth Model Reduce Costs and Increase Revenue Over Time?

Telehealth implementations designed to make patients happier and streamline tasks that otherwise cost money and staff time will inevitably repay your organization in the long run (and even the short term, in some instances). Here’s how:

1. Happier patients are more engaged for life.

According to a survey by the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition, almost 80% of patients who used telehealth during the pandemic reported feeling satisfied with their visits and felt that they had been provided with a “sense of access and continuity of care.”

This idea of continuity is important. Satisfied patients are more likely to stick around and engage in their own care long-term. They will be more likely to remain in your facility for additional in-patient services, which is where the majority of a facility’s revenue tends to originate. Considering that even a 5% patient retention rate can increase ROI by up to 95%, initial telehealth costs can be well worth it.

2. Telehealth creates new avenues for care.

With revenue threatened and costs high, increasing the number of care avenues is often a wise move. Telehealth implementation can introduce new care avenues such as “hospital-at-home,” in which patients can receive acute care in their own home environment.

This at-home care model brings high patient satisfaction, low care cost (38% lower than an in-facility care model), and leads to more referrals and recommendations to other potential patients. What’s more, hospital-at-home leads to better patient outcomes. Acutely ill patients who have been treated at home have a 20% lower mortality rate.

Another cost-saving avenue from telehealth is post-acute care. For example, AMD’s telemedicine technology enables remote providers to treat patients in place at skilled nursing facilities, reducing readmission costs, transportation costs, and medicare penalties. Connected, integrated medical devices allow remote healthcare providers to treat patients as if they were there next to them in their facilities.

3. Telehealth reimbursement is now possible.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have introduced expanded reimbursement guidelines and CPT codes for care delivered through telehealth services. Because the pandemic made in-person care more complicated, coverage and federal reimbursement for telemedicine services have increased, from behavioral health to cardiac care. Individual states also follow the suite of expanded reimbursement, but each state still has their own unique guidelines, as outlined on the Center for Connected Health Policy resource site.

Many expanded reimbursement opportunities will be in place until the end of 2023, so the time to elevate your healthcare program is now. Organizations looking to take advantage will need a scalable telehealth platform capable of basic videoconferencing and more sophisticated interactions, including real-time patient data transfer via medical devices.

In short, overall savings and revenue growth will be well worth the initial costs of implementing telehealth. Telehealth improves patient satisfaction, reduces healthcare costs in both the short and long term, and presents more opportunities for reimbursement. Get in touch today to learn more about how AMD can improve your telehealth program to capitalize on these and more opportunities.

View our Solutions

Draganfly Vital Intelligence Smart Vital Kiosk CES

Powered by Draganfly’s groundbreaking AI Vital Intelligence platform, the Kiosk can screen, with voluntary consent, temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation (SpO2) in seconds. The system does not register any personal data of the individual being screened. – From YahooFinance

Featuring a highly customizable camera configuration, the Kiosk can effectively meet the needs of specific events. Accessories such as QR and IR code readers can be incorporated to provide seamless integration with vaccine passports, security badges and other ticketing systems.

The Kiosk’s 22” LCD screen is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its Forward Looking InfraRed (FLIR) thermal camera adheres to the guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Designed to be versatile, the Kiosk can be secured in a certain area or safely wheeled to a new location.

About Draganfly

Draganfly Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRO; CSE: DPRO; FSE: 3U8) is the creator of quality, cutting-edge drone solutions, software and AI systems that revolutionize the way organizations can do business and service their stakeholders. Recognized as being at the forefront of technology for over 20 years, Draganfly is an award-winning, industry-leader serving the public safety, agriculture, industrial inspections, security, mapping and surveying markets. Draganfly is a company driven by passion, ingenuity, and the need to provide efficient solutions and first-class services to its customers around the world with the goal of saving time, money, and lives.

For more information on Draganfly, please visit us at www.draganfly.com

Telehealth Kiosk Company Higi Purchased

From DigitalHealth

In Brief

Babylon acquired the remaining equity for $4.9 million in cash and nearly four million in Babylon Class A ordinary shares and two million in restricted stock units
Smart Health Stations conveniently located within 5 miles of 73% of the U.S. population, at-home connected devices, and 50-state clinical network
More consolidation among digital health companies projected over the next few years.
Remote patient monitoring companies raised $126 million during the third quarter of the year, according to data from Digital Health Business & Technology.

Excerpt

Teladoc – Telehealth expects to bring in $2.03 billion in revenue in 2021

From HealthcareDive

Dive Brief:

Teladoc expects to bring in $2.03 billion in revenue in 2021, according to a preliminary filing with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, substantially above the high point of the telehealth giant’s previous guidance and almost doubling 2020’s topline.
The vendor conducted an estimated 14.7 million visits in the 2021 fiscal year, CEO Jason Gorevic said Monday at J.P. Morgan’s annual investor conference. That’s again above the high end of its guidance, and up from 10.6 million visits in 2020.
Despite the company’s performance, investors have been leery amid worries that demand for virtual care will drop off as COVID-19 cases do. Teladoc’s stock, which has been on a steady downward trajectory this year, ticked up slightly over Monday’s trade following Teladoc’s JPM presentation.

RedBox Rx Low-Cost Telehealth and Online Pharmacy Services

RedBox Rx by Hy-Vee

a new subsidiary of Hy-Vee, Inc., has launched low-cost telehealth and online pharmacy services, and is able to ship prescribed treatments directly to patients’ homes. Services are available now at redboxrx.com.

Telehealth consultation fees range from FREE to $39, depending on the type of treatment and are provided via a partnership with Reliant Immune Diagnostics’ MDbox platform that integrates with RedBox Rx. Consultation fees are often less expensive than typical medical insurance copays. To keep prices low and save patients the hassle, RedBox Rx does not accept insurance. Patients may, however, use their HSA or FSA card to pay for the telehealth visit or prescription costs.

“Our goal is to make it easy, convenient and affordable to receive treatment for dozens of illnesses and health conditions,” said Marshall Sanders, PharmD, president of RedBox Rx. “We know that more people are looking for quick, convenient and personalized health care options shipped directly to their homes, and RedBox Rx does exactly that.”

RedBox Rx provides fast, affordable access to treatment completely online when it’s convenient for you – day or night. Everything is completed right from your mobile device or desktop computer, and you’ll know all costs up-front. Insurance is not accepted; however, HSA and FSA cards are accepted.

RedBox Rx — a Hy-Vee, Inc. subsidiary — is a telehealth and online pharmacy provider that offers quick, easy and discreet access to a provider who can prescribe prescription medication and ship it directly to your home. RedBox Rx is a low-cost service that bypasses insurance and offers treatment plans for men’s health, women’s health, hair and skin, mental health, allergies and more. For additional information, visit www.redboxrx.com.

Source: PRNewswire

Remote Senior Care Alexa Together – Amazon Telehealth Expands

Alexa Together subscription service launched today. Speech recognition continues to emerge as one of the preferred interface mechanisms. Currently the only shortcomings is ambient noise in very public locations (and less than optimal noise cancellation by microphones) along with Tin Man type conversational AIs that are clearly not really listening often times. From FIERCE Healthcare —

Amazon Telehealth Expanding

Excerpt:

“The magic of ambient computing is that it just works,” Liron Torres, global leader of Alexa Smart Properties, told Fierce Healthcare in an October interview. “You don’t have to learn new technology or new devices.”

Amazon also started leveraging Alexa-enabled devices in hospitals and senior living facilities earlier this year.

Patients using the devices can get access to entertainment while also asking for things that they need, requests that get sent directly to their care team members.

Several health systems including Cedars-Sinai, who piloted the use of Amazon Alexa devices in over 100 patient rooms in 2019, have signed on to deploy the devices across select facilities.

Several other healthcare and tech companies have ramped up the development of health-focused speech recognition tools.

Microsoft announced plans in April to acquire speech recognition and healthcare AI company Nuance for a whopping $19.7 billion. The deal is set to close by the end of the year or early 2022.

Beneficiary telehealth visits increased 63-fold in 2020 — HHS study

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Medicare program provided temporary waivers increasing telehealth flexibility for the duration of the public health emergency (PHE). There are numerous issues for policy makers to address as they consider permanent expansion of these Medicare waivers when the pandemic ends. The goal of this report is to provide information for these policy considerations by analyzing trends in Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiary use of telehealth compared to in-person visits in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2020 during the pandemic

Telehealth Visit Trends

From FierceHealthcare —

The study, released Friday (PDF) by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), comes as advocates are pressing to make key flexibilities the federal government enabled at the start of the pandemic to be permanent. Even as telehealth use increased, there was still a decrease in Part B visits to doctors’ offices.

“Our findings show net decline in healthcare utilization in 2020—despite large increase in telehealth—underscore the need to carefully consider the extension of Medicare telehealth flexibilities after the pandemic ends and evaluate the impacts of telehealth on patient access, healthcare quality and health outcomes,” the report said.

KEY POINTS

The number of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiary telehealth visits increased 63-fold in 2020, from approximately 840,000 in 2019 to nearly 52.7 million in 2020.
Despite the increase in telehealth visits during the pandemic, total utilization of all Medicare FFS Part B clinician visits declined about 11% in 2020 compared to levels in 2019.
Most beneficiaries (92%) received telehealth visits from their homes, which was not permissible in Medicare prior to the pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, telehealth made up less than 1% of visits across all visit specialties but increased substantially in 2020. Telehealth increased to 8% of primary care visits, while specialty care had smallest shift towards telehealth (3% of specialist visits).
Visits to behavioral health specialists showed the largest increase in telehealth in 2020. Telehealth comprised a third of total visits to behavioral health specialists. While data limitations preclude clear identification of audio-only telehealth services, up to 70% of these telehealth visits during 2020 were potentially reimbursable for audio-only services.
Black and rural beneficiaries had lower use of telehealth compared with White and urban beneficiaries, respectively. Telehealth use varied by state, with higher use in the Northeast and West, and lower in the Midwest and South.

Telehealth News — Cleveland Clinic uses video to provide stroke care fast – Epic EHR News

Cleveland Clinic digital health initiative

Epic EHR

From Epic

At Cleveland Clinic, neurologists and neurosurgeons reach patients who are experiencing strokes even if they’re hundreds of miles away. Clinicians in a mobile stroke treatment unit use telehealth to bring remote neurologists to patients in seconds, and this approach has helped stroke patients receive potentially life-saving anti-clot medication 40 minutes faster.

When a patient experiences a stroke at home, clinicians provide care on the scene from a mobile stroke treatment unit. In the mobile unit, the patient immediately receives a CT scan, and the emergency response team conducts a video assessment with a remote neurologist. The assessment, plus the findings from the CT, help the neurologist triage the patient’s care—and prescribe clot-busting medication to stop the stroke—well before the patient arrives at the hospital. If the patient is admitted to the hospital, the neurologist can use the same telehealth tools to regularly evaluate the patient.

The patient and the care team can also check in using telehealth to manage long-term recovery after the patient goes home. For example, the patient can have a video visit with a primary care physician using MyChart, and the PCP can loop in a neurologist for an e-consult if needed. The patient can also send daily readings from smart devices, such as blood pressure monitors, through MyChart for providers to view. The care team uses dashboards in Epic to monitor trends in the patient’s progress over time.

“Telehealth is embedded in how we provide care—we can get a neurologist to the patient in seconds,” said Peter Rasmussen, MD, Professor of Neurological Surgery at Cleveland Clinic and Chief Clinical Officer at the Cleveland Clinic/Amwell joint venture. “Getting patients specialty care faster, especially during an event like a stroke, helps save lives.”

To learn more about the Cleveland Clinic’s digital health initiative, check out their presentation for the Scottsdale Institute.