Telemedicine has multiple potential benefits, including reimbursement boosts and improved patient outcomes, but adoption lags because of lack of state recognition and patient hesitance.
The growth of telemedicine has allowed physicians to see more patients at less cost, often from their homes. Telemedicine is not yet widespread, but more physicians are considering it, and states are slowly proposing legislation to make it eligible for coverage under Medicare, according to an article by Chicago-based business advisory firm FTI Consulting's executives Wayne Gibson and Jeffrey Bassette.
Telemedicine eases the burden of demand management while simultaneously boosting the frequency and quality of the consultations physicians have with their patients, Mr. Gibson and Mr. Bassette wrote.
For cost purposes, physicians under fee-for-service models can bill for each consultation, boosting reimbursements where possible. Under value-based care, physicians can follow up more frequently with chronic condition patients, improving patient outcomes and increasing reimbursements on that front. Telemedicine has been shown to improve patient outcomes in several case studies, including reducing pre-term births in an underserved section of Georgia and reducing readmission rates for congestive heart failure readmissions for patients in Colorado, according to the report.
"As is the case with most new technologies, the adoption of telemedicine will be incremental. It also will be transformative," the authors wrote.