Here’s your Friday NCMS Morning Rounds.
Sept. 25, 2020
What Should the Health Care System Look Like Post-COVID?
The Physicians Foundation is asking physicians to reflect on that question in this quick survey. Please take just three minutes to help policymakers, legislators and the public understand your hopes for the future and your unique perspective on the impact of the pandemic on our health care system.
The Physicians Foundation is a national, nonprofit advancing the work of practicing physicians to facilitate the delivery of high-quality health care to patients.
This is the third of three COVID-19 related surveys undertaken by The Physicians Foundation. Review the results of the previous surveys, which focused on the pandemic’s impact on physician practices and their patients and physician well-being.
TAKE THE SURVEY. If you include your email address you will be entered in a drawing for four $500 cash prizes.
Tell Your Senators Telehealth is Working
The AMA encourages you to contact your Senators to help ensure continued access to telehealth services for your patients.
As Congress remains deadlocked on additional COVID-19 relief legislation our country’s health care system continues to struggle under the massive strain the pandemic continues to exert on it.
During this time telehealth services have emerged as a critical tool to provide care to patients while supporting physical distancing efforts and reducing the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases by avoiding unnecessary outpatient visits.
Earlier this year, Congress acted to temporarily expand access to Medicare covered telehealth services to all Medicare beneficiaries by authorizing HHS to waive outdated statutory restrictions on where telehealth services may be provided. Before this action, Medicare was only allowed to pay for telehealth services provided to Medicare beneficiaries in rural areas at an originating site health care facility.
Unless Congress acts before the end of the COVID Public Health Emergency on Oct. 23, millions of Medicare beneficiaries outside of rural areas will lose access to Medicare telehealth benefits, and rural Medicare beneficiaries will once again be required to drive to a health care facility to receive them.
Recently, bipartisan legislation was introduced in the Senate to make the expanded access to telehealth services permanent. The Telehealth Modernization Act of 2020 (S. 4375) would lift the rural-only restriction and add any site where a patient is located as a potential originating site. This would ensure all Medicare beneficiaries may receive covered Medicare telehealth benefits, including at home and via mobile technologies as appropriate.
The evidence is in – The success of telehealth technology adoption during the COVID-19 public health emergency has made it abundantly clear that Medicare covered telehealth benefits should be available to ALL Medicare patients regardless of where they live or how they access broadband services!
Please contact your senators and ask them to support The Telehealth Modernization Act of 2020 (S. 4375) today!
Welcome to New Gold Level NCMS Marketplace Member, Abyde
Please help us welcome the latest gold level member to our NCMS Marketplace group of vendors.
Abyde software solution is the easiest way for any sized medical practice to implement and sustain comprehensive HIPAA compliance programs. Abyde’s revolutionary approach guides medical practices through mandatory HIPAA compliance requirements such as:
• Security Risk Analysis;
• HIPAA training for doctors and staff;
• Business Associate Agreement portal;
• Customized policy documentation.
Exclusive for NCMS members: Receive preferred member pricing on your Abyde subscription as a member of NCMS. To see Abyde in action, click here to book a demo. Or contact Abyde for more details at [email protected].
In the News
What’s the Right Way to Sneeze in a Face Mask? The Advisory Board Forum/The Washington Post, 9-23-20
Learning Opportunity
Don’t forget to tune in to today’s Power Hour from 1 to 2 p.m. The topic is our ongoing discussion on how we can address racism and improve health equity. Our guests will be:
Artina Dawkins, PhD, MPA – Program Manager and Co-Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Orthopaedic Surgery, Wake Forest Baptist Health
David McIntosh, PhD – Vice President and Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Amy J. McMichael, MD, FAAD – Professor and Chair in the Department of Dermatology at Wake Forest University Health Sciences in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
If you have policies you’d like your NCMS Board of Directors to consider, please complete the Board input form here. Thanks for reading!