Imagine a world with affordable, accessible, and high-quality healthcare for all. It’s a world where infants, the elderly, and everyone in between has an opportunity to live a healthy, happy life. Sounds like a dream, right?
Well, this dream may be closer to reality than you think. And it’s all because of telehealth! Telehealth has transformed the way patients and medical professionals experience healthcare delivery.
Learn more about the most common telehealth services in the article below.
What Are Telehealth Services?
Telehealth services use technology to provide healthcare remotely. It allows patients to connect with medical professionals without visiting a medical center.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth services grew by 78%! Telehealth was a safe alternative to visiting busy medical facilities and risking exposure to the virus.
1. Mental Health Services
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals started teletherapy for mental health services. Patients connected with licensed psychotherapists over video calls instead of meeting in person.
Mental health services were the most popular form of telehealth services over the last year. The continued popularity of teletherapy suggests it may be here to stay.
2. Non-Emergency Doctor’s Visits
Telehealth offers patients an opportunity to meet with their doctor to ask questions or seek medical advice as long as no physical testing is needed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people chose to attend non-emergency visits over video call or telephone instead of visiting a doctor’s office.
For example, patients managing chronic conditions could check in with their provider via telehealth as long as they didn’t require physical services like blood tests.
3. Telecardiology
Telecardiology is a form of telehealth for cardiology (heart health). Telecardiology allows patients to meet with specialists virtually for a consultation.
They can also get results from tests during a virtual meeting. For example, a patient may get an EKG exam locally but then meet with a cardiologist hundreds of miles away over video.
Telecardiology was around before the pandemic but has grown dramatically over the last year. Learn more about telecardiology!
Telehealth Billing Guidelines
So what are the CMS telehealth billing guidelines? The Medicare telehealth billing guidelines have recently expanded to provide more telehealth coverage meaning better access to services.
In general, telehealth visits are processed much like regular doctor’s visits. The cost will go through the insurance provider (including Medicare or Medicaid). The patient may be responsible for part of the cost of the services depending on their health insurance plan.
Telehealth Will Continue to Grow
Telehealth services are expected to grow more than 25% in the next 5 years. Telehealth will expand services to people in remote areas and could make healthcare more affordable for everyone.
Medical and communication technology is constantly improving. It is now possible to deliver high-quality healthcare to a larger group of people regardless of where they live in the world. We are one step closer to better, more equitable healthcare for all.
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