Ramona Midkiff

Source: mHEALTHINTELLIGENCE

A new report shows that telehealth usage remained steady from 2022 to 2023, with follow-up and behavioral healthcare cited as the primary reasons for a virtual visit.

June 23, 2023 – Most Americans are engaging in telehealth for follow-ups from a prior appointment and behavioral healthcare, according to a new survey.

Conducted by global commercial real estate and investment management company JLL, the survey polled 4,017 US residents from April 19 to April 28. Of the respondents, 51 percent were female, and 49 percent were male. Further, 29 percent were Baby Boomers, 28 percent were Millennials, 25 percent were Generation X, and 15 percent were Generation Z. Twenty-eight percent lived in urban settings, 24 percent in rural areas, and the rest in suburban settings.

The survey results show that 42 percent of respondents said they had a telehealth appointment in the last year. This figure has dropped slightly from the 2022 JLL Healthcare Patient Consumer Survey, which showed that 45 percent said they had a telehealth appointment in the last year.

Though follow-up from a prior appointment was the top reason for a telehealth appointment in the 2022 and 2023 surveys, the proportion of residents citing this reason declined.

In the 2023 survey, 43 percent of respondents said they had a follow-up visit via telehealth, compared to 45 percent the year prior.

On the other hand, the share of respondents using telehealth for behavioral healthcare has grown. Around 31 percent of respondents said they had a telehealth visit for behavioral health/counseling in 2023, up from 25 percent in 2022.

The third most common reason for a telehealth visit was an initial consultation for a medical concern or condition, with 26 percent of respondents in 2022 and 27 percent in 2023 citing this reason. Primary and preventative care was a new option in the 2023 survey, and 17 percent of respondents said they participated in a virtual visit for this reason.

But the survey also revealed that 29 percent of the time, telehealth led to an in-person visit.

Regardless, 71 percent of US residents stated that based on their past experience, they would prefer a telehealth visit in the future, whether they chose it themselves or were directed to a telehealth appointment. This figure dropped 5 percentage points from the 2022 survey when 76 percent of respondents said they would prefer telehealth in the future.

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Source: Forbes Breaking News

Source: mHealth INTELLIGENCE

June 30, 2023 – While providing insight into the factors that affect telehealth use, a report from Doximity indicated that physicians and patients perceive telehealth positively, and most believe that it often contributes to positive outcomes.

This rise in telehealth use is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand where usage stood in 2022, Doximity, a digital platform for United States medical professionals, conducted surveys involving physicians and patients.

The physician population in the survey consisted of 1,200 participants, all of whom used Doximity telehealth tools in 2022. These physicians practiced across nine specialties.

Regarding the adoption of the Doximity telehealth platform by region, New York, Chicago, and Boston were the areas with the highest adoption rates. Regarding the age of physicians, those in the 30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 59 age groups had the highest adoption rates,

Physician specialty also played a key role in adoption rates. Endocrinology, urology, and gastroenterology were the specialties with the highest use rates. The report also noted that those involved in specialties that care for a higher number of patients with chronic diseases generally had higher telehealth adoption rates.

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Source: News Channel 2

by: Sophie Brams

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- South Carolina is set to receive half a billion dollars as part of a nationwide effort to ensure all Americans have access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet service.

The Palmetto State will be awarded $551.5 million from the Biden Administration’s $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program as part of the “Internet for All” initiative, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced Monday.

The announcement comes as President Biden pledged that every household in the nation would have access to high-speed internet by 2030 using cables made in the United States, calling the service an “absolute necessity.”

Currently, NTIA estimates that about 119,580 households and small businesses in South Carolina lack access to a high-speed internet connection.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), high-speed internet is at or above 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload speed.

“You take it for granted in some of our bigger cities how great the service is, but there’s a huge disparity so we want to get that fixed,” South Carolina Broadband Office Director Jim Stritzinger said. “We feel great urgency to get it done.”

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Source: HEALTHCAREDIVE

By: Rebecca Pifer

Dive Brief:

• Telehealth groups are cheering after a bipartisan group of 60 senators reintroduced the CONNECT for Health Act last week, which would make pandemic-era virtual care flexibilities permanent if passed.
• It’s the second time the bill has been reintroduced in Congress as proponents of virtual care look to solidify COVID-19 gains in telehealth accessibility and use before temporary flexibilities run out at the end of 2024.
• Companion legislation has also been introduced in the House.

Dive Insight:

Permanently expanding telemedicine access has broad bipartisan support in Congress. A number of bills have been introduced to codify more telehealth protections after COVID-19, including CONNECT, which is considered the most comprehensive virtual care legislation by advocacy groups.

Since CONNECT was first introduced in 2016, a number of the bill’s original provisions have been enacted into law or adopted as policy by the CMS, including in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as Washington threw open the doors to broader telehealth use. Then a 2022 spending package extended a number of the changes through Dec. 31, 2024, giving regulators and Congress more time to analyze telehealth efficacy in Medicare and make any desired COVID-era changes permanent.

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To ensure the successful rollout of universal broadband, streamlining the complex web of permitting is critical.

Source: The Fast Mode

By Cheri Beranek

Bridging the digital divide is within our reach. As the federal government gears up to deliver $42.5 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds, unserved Americans in the hardest-to-reach and most expensive-to-build areas will soon gain affordable access to high-speed broadband.

But outdated, overlapping, and redundant permitting processes across the jurisdictions of multiple institutions threaten deployment with delays and prohibitive fees. BEAD funding is on a four-year timeline, and according to Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry, the “average time frame for a fiber deployment in rural areas is from five to 10 years.”

These permitting problems have always existed, but with the influx of BEAD funding comes skyrocketing demand that will pile on to existing backlogs and threaten to destroy deployment projects before they can even begin. The time to act is now: Let’s treat this historic investment with the respect it deserves to be successful and invest in breaking down the barriers that could stand in its way.

The complicated web of permitting

The permitting problem affects every region undergoing broadband deployment, and permitting delays cost time and money. While $42.5 billion may seem like a lot, experts have argued it might not be enough. This is especially true if new networks are not built in a timely and cost-efficient manner because of permitting delays.

As providers attempt to deploy broadband in areas that need it, they also need to seek permission to set up those networks. Permit processing varies across the country, and providers often need to coordinate deployment across several agencies—local utilities and local and state governments; crossing federal lands can bring in the Department of Interior and Department of Transportation. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars in permitting fees and delays just to cross a railroad.

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Source: Cision PRWeb

An upcoming segment of Advancements with Ted Danson will focus on recent innovations in telehealth technology.

With a look at certain disparities being felt throughout the healthcare industry, Advancements will explore the need for broadband and telehealth services today. Audiences will discover how the COVID-19 pandemic brought to light the severity of the digital divide in South Carolina, especially in rural and low-income communities.

Audiences will learn how Palmetto Care Connections’ (PCC) Digital Inclusion Solutions are helping to close the digital divide for residents in rural and underserved areas by increasing internet access and affordability, and by connecting individuals to quality-of-life resources through digital literacy trainings.

“Through our digital inclusion program, PCC has reached over 1,200 South Carolinians in rural and underserved communities in 14 Counties with some of the highest health disparities,” said Kathy Schwarting, chief executive officer of PCC. “Each program participant received in person digital literacy training with a telehealth and health literacy segment, a laptop or tablet, and assistance with affordable internet solutions.”

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Source: Route Fifty

By Kery Murakami

In three weeks, the federal government will dole out billions from the infrastructure act to each state to expand broadband service.

To make sure the nearly $42.5 billion goes to where it’s needed most, places with either no or poor internet access will be prioritized using a map from the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC has been scrambling for months now to refine its data in a move that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel described as “another step forward in its iterative effort to develop the best and most accurate broadband maps ever built in the United States.”

The agency last week released a new version that could shift where billions of dollars will be going.

The change could be good news for states like Alaska, which could get about $180 million more than it would have under earlier versions of the map. But Michigan could lose about $400 million to improve broadband service in their state, according to a review of the new FCC data in a newsletter followed by many in the broadband industry.

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South Carolina performs mapping audits to hold ISPs accountable for coverage claims.

Source: Broadband Breakfast

by: Teralyn Whipple

South Carolina’s innovative state broadband map can accurately identify areas of over-reporting by internet service providers, the director of the state’s broadband office said in a Friday Ask Me Anything! session in the broadband community.

South Carolina processes the same data as does the Federal Communications Commission as it creates its broadband map. However, it also performs audits on the ISPs to ensure they are submitting accurate data. Hence, the state can determine errors in reporting data based on where the ISP’s networks had been deployed previously and where state investments have gone, said Jim Stritzinger, director of the state’s broadband office.

Providers are required to file amended returns with the FCC in the event that South Carolina’s state broadband office flags errors in their reporting information. Errors include misreporting of technology types.

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Source: Interesting Engineering

By: Loukia Papadopoulos

The machines cost a whopping $2.5 million each but the patients they treat believe they are well worth the money.

In the UK, robot surgeons that cost a whopping £2 million ($2.5 million) each are helping thousands of women plagued by the painful womb condition endometriosis.

This is according to a report by the Daily Mail published on Saturday.

The remote-controlled machines are being used by NHS Trusts to operate on all the women who missed out on these crucial operations during the Covid pandemic. The devices work with pinpoint accuracy meaning patients recover faster and better with less complications.

Endometriosis is a condition that develops when tissue that would normally line the womb starts to grow in other parts of the body, such as the ovaries, bowel and bladder, even occasionally in the spine, lungs or brain.

Regardless of their new location, they still behaves just like womb tissue, swelling and bleeding every month during a woman’s period, causing intense pain.

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