Insurance
Insurance reimbursement for telemedicine is a mixed bag.
Along with 31 states, the District of Columbia mandates that private insurers cover tele-health the same way they cover in-person services, according to the American Telemedicine Association.
Medicare pays for 89 telemedicine services, including diabetes self-management, radiology, pathology and some cardiology. In some instances, Medicare Advantage plans tend to be generous in telemedicine reimbursements, according to the association.
Almost all Medicaid patients can get some telemedicine services covered, but the list of the services varies state by state.
Smart Homes
At the University of Virginia Health System, telemedicine eliminates the need for nearly 1.5 million miles of travel by patients annually and has cut missed appointments by 30 percent.
Many visits that used to require family members to travel four to seven hours each way are things of the past.
Ruth Drew, the director of family and information services at the Alzheimer’s Association, said looking into the future she can easily imagine the day when “smart homes” make telemedicine a no-brainer.
As the costs go down and ease of use of the devices goes up, they might become ubiquitous among late boomers.