About 27 percent of Pennsylvania physicians said their practices are having difficulties navigating telemedicine reimbursement during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent Pennsylvania Medical Society survey.
For its "Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on outpatient care in Pennsylvania," the medical society surveyed 983 physicians located in 55 counties throughout the state in late April. Participants were asked about the economic challenges they were facing due to the pandemic.
While the use of telemedicine increased from 13 percent prior to COVID-19 to 87 percent during the pandemic, 27 percent of physicians said reimbursement has been "difficult" or "very difficult," according to the report. Nearly 32 percent of physicians said they found telemedicine reimbursement to be moderately difficult, while 25.62 percent and 16.25 percent of physicians reported minimal to no difficulties, respectively.
Most physicians expressed they want to learn more about telemedicine reimbursement and regulations during the pandemic. Here are the patient management aspects participants said they are "extremely" or "very" interested in knowing more about:
· Telemedicine reimbursement: 55.5 percent
· Telemedicine state regulations: 52 percent
· Liability concerns with telemedicine: 54.9 percent
Click here to view the full report.