Category: Blog

Telemedicine in Rural Communities

Imagine you live in a small rural community in northern Montana with no more than a thousand residents, each of whom lives miles from the next. Your child becomes ill with a sudden high fever and you don’t know what to do.  Just five years ago, this situation would have necessitated an hour drive to the nearest hospital emergency room, or a call to a volunteer-run ambulatory services center.  Now, patients have the option to receive care via telemedicine instead, improving the level of care and making healthcare accessible to more people in rural areas.

Telemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve a patient’s clinical health status.  (ATA)    Sometimes referred to as “telehealth,” telemedicine can be accomplished via email, smart phone, two-way video, and many other forms of communication technology.  It can be as simple as two physicians discussing a case via cell phone, or as complex as using video-conferencing to facilitate a real-time consultation between medical providers in two different countries.  (Medical News)  The main benefits of telemedicine derive from its flexibility—any physician can participate in one of its several different user options.  The practice has been lauded by many in the medical community for increasing care options to patients and cost-effectiveness.  Medicaid guidelines recognize the cost difference between face-to-face consultations or examinations and telemedicine, and incentivize the practice through its coverage levels.  (Medicaid)

Telemedicine has had a widespread effect globally, especially in rural communities that lack a brick-and-mortar healthcare presence.   Rural populations consistently face obstacles to healthcare that urban areas do not encounter.   Challenging issues such as a lack of healthcare professionals, physical distance between providers, and a lack of emergency facilities have created a care gap between the people in these two regions.  (Stanford School of Medicine)  The majority of the problems stem a deficiency of healthcare professionals per patient in rural areas.  According to Stanford University’s Rural Health Factsheet, , about 20% of American’s population resides in rural communities, but less than 10% of physicians practice in rural areas.

Telemedicine helps correct that imbalance by ‘bringing’ physicians into the rural communities in which they are needed via electronic media.  Before telemedicine, a patient may have had to wait two or more days for a physician to travel to his town, or had to travel long distances to the doctor.  Now, the same patient can set see his doctor via Skype when it’s most convenient or most needed.   (Healthcare IT News)  Additionally, because web communication software is relatively inexpensive, the cost to the patient is negligible.

Telemedicine has also led to improvement with in-home monitoring.  Clinical observations or costly hospital stays are avoided when a patient is given a device to monitor his status at home which uploads all relevant information to the monitoring physician.  This allows the patient to be at home, even if his home is far away from the nearest medical facility.  At-home monitoring also helps hospitals reduce readmission rates.  (Time)  Fewer readmissions means less billing to Medicare and Medicaid, which reduces the cost of these programs.

Possibly the biggest boon to rural communities is the increased availability of specialists.  In locations where physicians of any type are scarce, finding available specialized care, even types as basic as emergency pediatric care, can be difficult or near impossible.  (University of California)  Telemedicine allows specialized physicians to consult with other physicians on difficult cases—in some situations, they can even virtually examine the patient via video conference and electronic medical records.  In the case of emergency pediatric care, telemedicine consultations have been proven to greatly improve the quality of care for children treated in rural emergency rooms.  (Kaiser Health News, NTCA)

Threre are ways to even further increase the level of health in rural communities via telemedicine.  A 2011 report from the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform and Modernization gives eight strategies to improve further the reach and abilities of telemedicine in rural communities.  (UnitedHealth Group)  Among the suggestions made were expanding broadband connectivity, offering education to physicians on how to incorporate telemedicine into their practice, and updating regulations to allow the practice across state lines.

How the NFIB v. Sebelius Ruling Will Increase the Amount of Uninsured under the ACA

In a March 2012 report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that by 2022, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) would reduce the number of nonelderly people without health insurance by 33 million, leaving another 27 million still uninsured.  A significant part of that 33 million included the 17 million more people the CBO estimated to qualify for Medicaid by 2022 under the ACA.  They had not previously qualified because the ACA increased the eligible income to those making up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level.  This increase in eligibility would have been implemented by making all federal Medicaid dollars given to the states contingent on states increasing the pool of eligible individuals.

On June 28th, the Supreme Court ruled in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, however, that the federal government could not withhold current levels of Medicaid funding to force the Medicaid expansion.  Instead, it could only withhold the additional funds it planned to give out, making the Medicaid expansion optional state-by-state.

Based on the Sebelius ruling, the CBO reworked its estimates in a July 2012 report that concluded, because of the Supreme Court ruling, six million fewer people would qualify for Medicaid than previously estimated. Of those six million, however, an additional three million would qualify for the new exchanges.  Therefore, the net loss of insured people thanks to the Supreme Court ruling was three million.  In updating their numbers, the CBO did not attempt to guess which states would or would not expand their Medicaid program, but attempted to “reflect an assessment of the probabilities of different outcomes…and are, in their judgment, in the middle of the distribution of possible outcomes.”

These figures are being discussed again because of a June 2013 study by HealthAffairs, which did attempt to guess state-by-state who would be expanding their Medicaid programs and its affect on the uninsured.  They note that, after the Supreme Court decision, 14 states had announced their intent to opt-out of the expansion, six were undecided, three were leaning against the expansion, and two were leaning toward the expansion.  They found that if all currently undecided states opted in, 29.8 million people would remain uninsured by 2016 (compared to 26 million people uninsured according to the CBO by the same year).  That number would rise to 31 million if all of the undecided states opted out.  They also note that around 80% of those uninsured would be US citizens, and no matter which way the undecided states go, 4.3 million children and 1 million veterans would likely remain uninsured.

As of a September 17, 2013 a report by the Advisory Board Company found that the number of undecided and not participating states had increased. They found 15 (up from 14) states firm in opting out of expansion, seven (three) leaning against expansion, five (six) undecided or exploring an alternative model, four (two) leaning towards expansion, and overall 20 (25) firmly participating.  Therefore, the percentage of states that could be opting out has increased from 34-46% to 44-54% of states.  This will in turn increase the number of uninsured people.  As the merits of the ACA continue to be debated on Capitol Hill in light of the budget debate, and more states become firm in their plans to opt-in or opt-out of the Medicaid expansion, the number of those who are ultimately uninsured could rise and continue to undermine the goal of universal health care.

 

Plan B May Be Over the Counter Now

A US federal judge ruled on April 5th that Plan B and emergency contraceptives be made available to minors without the need of a prescription.

Prior to the Obama Administration’s 2011 decision to restrict access for anyone under the age of 17, the Food and Drug Administration recommended that Plan B be made available without a prescription for all women of any age. Judge Edward R. Korman determined that there was no reason to restrict access, even to minors, because Plan B is “among the safest drugs sold over the counter.”

Although the decision to restrict access was likely an attempt to avoid angering religious groups who claim the drug is an abortifacient, science shows that the drug prevents implantation on the uterine wall. A woman is not considered pregnant until the fertilized egg has implanted itself in her uterus’ wall.

Women still face the common problems of buying the drug: Pharmacists sometimes lie and claim even adults need a prescription, refuse to sell to men, or refuse to sell at all.

Komen’s decision will appeal to the Second Circuit, which is one of the most liberal in the country.

NYC Ban on Soda Won’t Happen After All

Justice Milton Tingling struck down Mayor Bloomberg’s ban on large soda drinks, calling it “arbitrary and capricious”.

The ban was an attempt to improve the health of NYC citizens, after seeing obesity rates rise from 18% of adults in 2002 to 24%. The ban was championed by Bloomberg and approved by the Board of Health in September, 2012. Justice Tingling wrote that the power to create the ban belonged to the elected City Council, and not the Board of Health appointed by the mayor.

According to city Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley, obesity-related illnesses cost the city about $2.8 billion a year.

Businesses faced costs associated with the change that they would not be compensated for – reprinting menus, changing bottles and labels, and movie theaters in particular were concerned about losing soda sales that account for 20% of their profits.

Breast Pumps For All, But Not Necessarily The Best

The ACA requires insurance companies to provide new mothers with breast pumps and other equipment that is necessary to help them breast feed.

Unfortunately, the law doesn’t specify the type or quality of the breast pumps to be provided, so the companies (with doctors’ recommendations) get to decide. This issue leads to whether a company will provide a manual or an electric pump.

The benefits of an electric pump over a manual pump are several: they’re high-powered and can simulate a nursing child, while manual pumps can be weak, clumsy, and cumbersome for a working mother to use. They take more time to pump than an electrical pump.

The costs are also considerably different, when a high-end electric pump coming in at around $300, and a manual pump costing as little as $35.

Surprise Benefit of Obamacare: Less Spending

On March 7th, Kathleen Sebelius of Health and Human Services announced that there has been a slowdown in medical spending since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Obamacare, Sebelius said, is due the credit for increased efficiency and slowed medical spending growth.

“The health care law’s push for coordinated care and paying for quality rather than quantity is putting downward pressure on medical costs, the article reports,” Sebelius wrote in a blog post. “It’s improving the way health care providers do business, and that’s good news for patients.”

Sebelius cited a USA Today study that found the ACA’s cost-control measures are working.