Category Archives: Telemedicine

The amount that consumers spend on healthcare in the United States typically fluctuates from year to year, but healthcare spending grew in 2014 at its fastest rate since 2007. Americans averaged $9,523 in spending, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Much of this increase is from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the increase in Medicaid patients as a result.

When the Affordable Care Act increased coverage of insurance to people who had never had insurance before, it also increased the number of patients who could be serviced by government-run programs like Medicaid. In 2014 alone, 7.7 million people signed up for Medicaid, representing a boost in spending by the program of 11 percent. In some states low income patients represent a majority; homebound patients and those without the ability to travel long distances to see a physician are being cared for through the assistance of telemedicine, where the doctor can diagnose and treat a variety of patients who before just wouldn’t have been seen.

The CMS has been tracking consumer spending on healthcare in the United States for more than fifty years. It also tracks total spending as a percentage of the gross domestic product. While spending usually rises over time, the healthcare spending of 2014 surpassed growth of the economy by 1.2 percentage points, representing 17.5 percent of the United States’ GDP.

One of the main contributors to the higher healthcare spending is an increase in the cost of prescription drugs. CMS has noticed a more than 12 percent jump in spending on prescription medications, including some specialty Cancer and Hepatitis C drugs like Harvoni and Sovaldi that have been priced as high as $1,000/pill. Drug companies claim that most patients pay far less than this amount through their insurance, but even so, spending on prescriptions through doctor’s visits and telemedicine rose nearly ten percent higher in 2014 than the year prior, from 2.4 percent to 12.2 percent.

In order for insurance companies to make money, they rely on the premiums that healthy people pay to cover the medical bills for the sick people. If an insurance company sets premiums that are too low, or if they insure more sick people than healthy people, they can suffer great losses. Insurers who are new in the market may not be familiar with these risks.

Currently, United Health has been slower than many of its rivals when it comes to selling policies on the Obamacare market. The news about United Health may indicate that other insurers are struggling as well. United Health is one of the largest insurers, and has years of experience and an excellent reputation. Since they are considered one of the most sophisticated health plans around and they are struggling, it is difficult to believe that other insurers are not struggling as well.

New Enrollment

The Obama Administration recently made a statement that more people are signing up for the Affordable Care Act this year than last. Since enrollment began on November 1st, about 1.1 million people signed up, and that was just in the first week. In 2014, less people than that signed up from the beginning of enrollment all the way through Thanksgiving week.

Currently, there are more people signing up for health insurance and more insurers are entering the Marketplaces. These statistics cannot prove the Marketplace’s viability and strength.

According to United Health, they are going to be suspending the marketing of their individual exchange plans. Also, they are going to be eliminating or cutting the commissions for brokers who are selling the coverage in a variety of markets.

550,000 in Obamacare

Around 9.9 million people currently have health insurance through state and U.S. Run insurance markets as of June 30th. Of those people, United Health covers less than 550,000 on the Obamacare exchanges.

On Thursday, United Health made a statement saying that the company is currently evaluating the viability of the insurance exchange product segment. They stated that they will need to begin determining during the first half of 2016 if it can serve public exchange markets through 2017. United Health’s Chief Financial Officer, David Wichmann told analysts during a conference call on October 15th, that he believes that there will be a better performance on the insurance exchange starting next year.

United Health is not the only insurer that is struggling. Other insurance companies are struggling to make a profit from government run marketplaces that were created by Obamacare. Due to charging too little to cover the cost of their patients’ medical care, several non-profit co-op plans have failed. Another reason is that the Obama administration had a fund to stabilize the market, and paid out only 12.6 percent of what the insurance companies requested. Many of these companies are also offering very low premiums so they can compete with their rivals, and now cannot turn a profit.

Patience

Other major insurers, Anthem and Aetna, has stated that they will be patient while the exchange business has a chance to develop. Eventually, they expect to turn a profit. Currently, Aetna has 1.1 million individual members, while Anthem has 824,000.

According to Mark Bertolini, Aetna’s CEO, it is too early to call it quits on the ACA land other exchanges. He believes there is still a big opportunity for the company. He added that things are still challenging, and they reduced the states where they offer coverage from 17 to 15.

Anthem issued a statement in late October, saying that they don’t expect the individual exchange business to improve until 2017 or 2018.

According to United Health, earning per share will likely be $6.00 this year, which is down from $6.25 to $6.35. Next year, they expect that earnings per share to be between $7.10 and $7.30. They plan an investor day on December 1st.

Political support for the expansion of Medicaid in Georgia is on support and its prognosis might be terminal. However, this does not mean that there is no pathway forward for the individuals seeking healthcare solutions. It is the same pathway that managed to solve most of our problems: innovation.

Every proposal of Medicaid expansion has mostly been a reaction to all the failures of the federal policy in attempting to take care of the “coverage gap.”

Nonetheless, the gap is a mere symptom of the original disease. Unfortunately, the Affordable Care Act did very little to make health care affordable. Actually, it worsened the conditions that escalated health costs – government intervention and regulation.

ObamaCare put more patients right into the system without any corresponding increase in medical practitioners while additionally forcing insurance plans to swathe more services. Consequently, this made them more like full-service warranties and less like insurance.

We do not expect car insurance to take care of oil changes or homeowners insurance to cover for lawn service – why expect health insurance to pay for regular doctor visits?

Skyrocketing costs have currently turned most Americans into medical refugees. Patients travel to foreign countries in order to obtain 50%-80% discounts on procedures in the less regulated markets.

Rather than transforming Georgians into medical refugees, the state ought to innovate and provide deregulated choices. This will go miles in attracting medical tourists to Georgia.

Addressing the primary cause (s) of unaffordable care through adopting market-based, patient-centered reforms as well as discovering to drastically reducing the burdens of regulation in the healthcare market is much better than policy-makers negotiating on how to pay for the federally micromanages insurance plans.

Begin by bringing down the barriers to entry for healthcare professionals together with all the burdens of limits and licensure on the scope of practice.

Reducing charity care, medical cost-sharing, out-of-state practitioners, direct-pay models, and barriers on telemedicine & concierge is very much possible. Explore options for clients for service agreements that include particular tort reforms as well as damage caps.

Moreover, deregulate insurance plans for individuals that are exempt from ObamaCare. Deregulation should be allowed to facilitate innovation and decentralization.

Information technology has witnessed a rapid escalation in innovation and quality with a huge decline in host. Meanwhile, the much regulated healthcare industry has experienced totally opposite.

Some people are skeptical about the possibilities of telemedicine. More traditional therapists believe that people need to visit therapists in person in order to establish the secure environment that people usually need in order to get well. However, new studies that demonstrate the efficacy of telemedicine are calling that view into question.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and clinical depression are some of the most difficult illnesses to treat. Many people suffering from depression more or less consider themselves unworthy of treatment, and their depression may prevent them from having the will to go through with treatment. It is difficult for people with PTSD to ever feel safe, even in a comfortable room with a therapist. However, a recent study involving soldiers with PTSD demonstrated that the participants had less severe PTSD and depression symptoms after only eight sessions.

Similar studies should be repeated with people who have PTSD that was not caused by time served in the military. People with PTSD that was brought on by a period of ongoing abuse can have different symptoms than people who got PTSD in the military. However, the results of the study are certainly promising and demonstrate the tremendous potential for telemedicine.

Many people do not live close enough to qualified therapists to get the treatment that they need. People often have to shop around to find therapists that work for them, which means that people are limited by their locations. People with severe anxiety disorders often do not want to even leave their homes to go to therapists’ offices, so telemedicine may be a particularly good option for them. This new system may ensure that people finally get the therapy that they need, possibly for the first time.

Thanks to telemedicine, the power that talented therapists have can expand. They can reach much larger audiences, limited only by their own schedules. The barriers between doctors and patients are potentially dissolving in new ways thanks to technological advances like this one.

Shriners Hospital for Children is using telemedicine to spread the cheer to the children. They are testing a new program where children can video chat with Santa Claus.

Shriners Hospital for Children is taking part in a doctor-patient video conferencing program that is set to begin next year. The Santa Chat program is being used as a test drive program, and children are now able to get an experience they would not have gotten due to their illnesses. Children can speak to Santa Claus from the hospital and even those who have disorders that inhibit speech are still able to have a Santa Claus experience.

The video chat program is being used to find out whether telemedicine can be used by orthopedic and neuromusculoskeletal specialists. It is aimed at making the doctor-patient experience better. By the use of high-quality video chat with medical records being made available and accessible at both ends in the chat.

However, this comes with a few challenges, especially in the orthopedic department. This is because this is more of a hands-on field as doctors will need to feel and see how the muscles, bones and joints are moving and not only see them move. This can mean that there will be need to have a facilitator who will act as an intermediary and tells the orthopedic surgeon what is going on.

Despite this challenge, telemedicine is still effective in making the services of specialists more accessible to patients in different geographical regions. This improves the quality of service being delivered especially to patients with medical conditions that require expert opinions. Patients are now able to receive treatment from their primary hospitals.

The integration of telemedicine has also cut down on transport costs for patients and hospitals. Hospitals like Shriners would spend a lot of money transporting children to their appointments. Teleconferencing will ensure that patients will not have to travel to see specialists for their appointments. This can save lots of money for hospitals that can be directed to other projects.

Telemedicine has made a breakthrough in giving better care to patients with Chronic Kidney Disease. This is through the implementation of telenephrology. This is where physicians can consult nephrologists concerning patients with chronic kidney disease. The physicians send the patients file to the neurologist who can assess and give recommendations.

It has also increased the frequency of patients coming in for their treatment. There was a notable reduction in cancellations from patients in hospitals using telenephrology compared to those who use in-person care.

However, it should be noted that telenephrology might be better at ensuring that patients attend their appointments. It offers the same kind of standards as in-person care when it comes to management of Chronic Kidney Disease. This means that the treatment gives the same physical outcomes.

Through telenephrology, patients suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease can be able to access better health-care. Initially, most patients would have to use the services of physicians. This meant that they did not have the expert care of a nephrologist that they need with their condition. This is also because there are few nephrologists.

The use of telenephrology has changed this. Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease can access nephrologists through their physicians. Nephrologists can give recommendations on the course of treatment for patients. As a result, this has significantly reduced the number of in-person referrals. Patients can get the required treatment from their hospitals.

Nephrologists are also able to increase the number of patients they see. They will be able to do web-based consultations for patients who are not within their geographical range. This will spread their treatment range as patients will be able to obtain treatment from their primary health-care facilities. This will be done with the remote assistance of a nephrologist.

The integration of telemedicine in the care of patients has shown that it is capable of improving the standards of health-care. It’s a way of ensuring that patient-centered care is given to patients despite their geographical locations.

With doctor shortages looming and a lack of specialized physicians in rural locations, the whole country is adopting Telemedicine software. Telemedicine is commonly defined as the “use of audio, video, or other electronic media for the purpose of diagnosis, consultation, or treatment.” You will notice that the definition excludes the use of audio-only telephone or facsimile. New Hampshire, being a pioneer of the new Telemedicine law, now allows a physician to establish a valid doctor-patient relationship with no in-person exam needed. And that’s only one of the barriers to growth being removed for New Hampshire’s Telemedicine providers and businesses. Studies continue to show how Telemedicine provides high quality, cost-effective care, while simultaneously eliminating travel time and increasing access for those with physical and mental health needs.

Here are some of the ways in which telehealth offerings will now be redefined and even improved due to the New Hampshire Telemedicine law:

1. Establishing provider-patient relationships. While in-person exams may become obsolete, a method of interactive communication is still preferred when telemedicine is being offered and administered in New Hampshire. That is, doctors should be able to establish a two-way, face-to-face, interaction so they may carry out an exam, diagnosis, treatment and documentation of prescriptions and dosage information. Companies are already coming up with ways to incorporate reliable and user-friendly communication tools in their practice.

2. Remote prescriptions. Just as medical advice and diagnosis will be delivered through telemedicine, so will prescriptions and drug administration instructions. Physicians will now be in close contact with pharmacies, labs and other post-consultation services in order to carry out remote prescribing that meets the current standards of practice.

3. Maintaining patient medical records. When appropriate, medical records will be easily transferred and shared with the patient’s consent, to a primary care or treating provider.

4. New care processes and protocols for treatment. Telemedicine will allow practitioners to carry out a consistent standard of care across interactions with each patient.

5. Explore controlled substance telepsychiatry. To limit the over-prescription of controlled substances, or “doctor shopping”, the prescribing of these drugs in New Hampshire still requires annual in-person examinations.

ObamaCare is a health insurance policy introduced by the US government that enrolled approximately 6.5 million people by the end of 2014. There were 4.5 million auto-renewals and renewals, in addition to enrollments summing to 2 million. However, despite continued campaigns urging people to enroll under Obamacare, 1 million New York residents still lack medical coverage. The number is significantly higher in neighborhoods populated by immigrants. When such high numbers of people lack health insurance, especially for a city as populated as New York, then real consequences are inevitable for its inhabitants.

The most affected in the city is Woodside and Sunnyside in Queens, where 22.5% of the population have no health insurance. Queen’s neighborhoods such as Corona, Bushwick, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights lag behind with more than 22% of their residents lack medical coverage. Contrary, the lowest uninsured population is found in Upper West and Upper East Sides with 4% lacking coverage and Staten Island’s Tottenville recording 4.5%.

Majority of legal immigrants lack medical coverage due to:

• Inadequate knowledge about the signing up procedure

• Unawareness of the policy

• Ineligibility of undocumented immigrants to plans under federal law

• Some youngsters opt not to pay for medical cover since they assume they do not need it

To register more people to the Telemedicine program, the coordination and awareness team really have to do a better job. For instance, young people rarely have an opportunity to evaluate the need for a health coverage plan. Furthermore, to succeed in this noble endeavor, reaching the immigrant population is of great importance. The Health Insurance plans to kick-start enrollment under Obamacare this month and will last till the end of January. However, most immigrants cannot sign up, while some cannot afford premiums for plans they qualify. The perceived hindrance to the adoption of Telemedicine program is hence, the contentious issue of affordability.

Most people love eating vegetables and can even swear by them. To keep yourself healthy, you will find yourself consuming kale and other cruciferous vegetables. These include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and many other cruciferous vegetables. To get healthy, you end up harming yourself through eating these vegetables on a regular basis.

This is because it has been proven that consuming very high intakes of cruciferous vegetables can lead to hypothyroidism that is a condition where the body has insufficient thyroid hormone. The chances of one getting this condition, however, are higher if the person is also suffering from an iodine deficiency.

However, this does not mean that you stop eating them altogether. Eating moderate amounts of these cruciferous vegetables does not affect your health in any way. However, taking kale and the other cruciferous vegetables in large quantities can bring about health issues.

Kale has been seen to cause goiter in some cases. However, if you want to continue eating kale and other cruciferous vegetables, there are ways in which you can reduce the chances of being affected by them.

• For instance, cooking the kales reduces the goitrogenic properties and also cooking the other cruciferous vegetables. You should try cooking it as much as possible.
• You can also add seaweed or another iodine rich food into the diet since the effects are mostly experienced by those who have an iodine deficiency.
• Also, include Brazilian nuts to boost levels of selenium when blending your kale.
• Alternating between different vegetables has also been seen to help. This is by eating cruciferous and non-cruciferous greens alternately. This will ensure that you don’t overeat one of them.

If you do not have a thyroid issue, then kale and other cruciferous vegetables should remain as a part of your diet since they are healthy and provide a lot of nutrients. However, eat them with moderation and avoid eating them raw if you can as it is healthier to eat them when cooked.

The phrase ‘Adverse effects of herbal products’ may come as a shock but not after reading a recent report, published in The New England Journal of Medicine. A study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that, in the United States, there are more than 23,000 emergency room visits each year resulting from adverse effects of dietary supplements.

Their analysis of dietary supplement related ER visits in 63 hospitals over a ten year period, established that the visits majorly involved youths suffering energy or weight loss products- related cardiovascular complications, and older adults with micronutrients-associated swallowing problems. Out of the 23,000 visits, 2,154 were admitted for further treatments.

Bearing in mind that people who might have succumbed en route to the hospital were not included in their research, there is undoubtedly a compelling backdrop possibly attributed to the dramatic rise in the number of supplements. In a period of less than two decades, their numbers have increased by almost 14 times to approximately 55,000 from 4,000 products some years back.

As we speak, nearly half of the United States adults reportedly have used one or more dietary supplements in the past one month. With ever rising out of pocket expenditures for herbal products, the imminent threat they pose to public health can never be overlooked. It is high time that federal law governing the same is stepped up.

The current regulations based on the premise that all supplement products are safe. The new study will hopefully shed some light in supplement regulations in the US. While we cannot ignore the fact that some legislation and regulation acts have been enacted in recent years, we cannot ignore that the number of ER visits is ever on the rise, leaving a lot to be desired.

Every single life is precious. If you are a youth and you are taking these products for weight loss or boosting your energy, bear in mind that some of them can affect your heart. First consult your doctor before using them if you have a heart condition. Adults too should be aware that these products can cause choking, hence, use them with caution.