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Jan 15
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MUSC Extends Free Telehealth Platform to State Health Plan Members

By News

The Medical University of South Carolina is partnering with the state’s Public Employee Benefit Authority to extend free, non-acute telehealth care to some 550,000 state employees and their dependents.

By Eric Wicklund

January 10, 2020 – Some 550,000 South Carolina state employees and their dependents now have access to free telehealth services under a deal forged with the Medical University of South Carolina.

State officials announced this week that the university’s MUSC Health Virtual Urgent Care platform is now open to members of the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority (PEBA). The virtual care platform, offering care for more than 40 health issues, can be access by on-demand video or phone or through asynchronous (store-and-forward) telehealth channels that include texting and online questionnaires.

“We know how hard it can be to take time away from work to address urgent health issues, and when care is hard to access, takes too long or is too expensive, a patient may wait to address an issue until its much worse or harder to deal with,” Patrick J. Cawley, MD, MUSC Health’s CEO and the university’s Vice President of Health Affairs, said in a press release. “That’s not good for patients, their families, their employers or the long-term health and wellness of our state. I’m very excited that PEBA has partnered with us on improving access to effective and efficient care, and these state employees will, in turn, benefit from the quality, expertise and convenience that comes from being connected to one of only two telehealth centers of excellence in the nation.”

MUSC – one of two designated national Telehealth Centers of Excellence – joins a growing number of health systems and health plans looking to boost connected health adoption by offering free direct-to-consumer telehealth services for non-acute concerns, such as colds, viruses and infections.

The service also targets access barriers, giving state employees the opportunity to access care from the mobile device of their choice and at the time and place of their choosing, rather than going to the doctor’s office, retail health clinic or hospital.

“This new benefit for our state employees and their families brings the doctor straight to your phone, instead of them having to spend the time and money they may not have,” Gov. Henry McMaster said in the press release. “This is another innovative tool to keep people healthy and address health issues earlier than they might otherwise. This means a healthier, more prosperous South Carolina.”

VIEW ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Jan 12
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Remote Patient Monitoring, Reimbursement Topped Headlines in 2019

By News

By Samantha McGrail

Top mHealth trends in 2019 included remote patient monitoring, telehealth reimbursement, substance use disorder care, chronic disease management, and direct-to-consumer mHealth technology.

As 2019 comes to an end, healthcare organizations are reflecting on the trends and stories that most influenced their behaviors in the past year. Based on our most clicked stories in 2019, those trends included remote patient monitoring, telehealth reimbursement and coding, behavioral health/substance use disorder care, chronic disease management strategies, and direct-to-consumer mHealth technologies.

In the following article, mHealthIntelligence.com will break down these trends, as well as the strategies and best practices industry leaders developed in response.

Remote patient monitoring

In 2019, healthcare organizations looked to invest in remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions to transition to value-based care. Many healthcare leaders expected these solutions to support high-risk chronically ill patients whose conditions are considered unstable and at a risk for hospital admission.

Specifically, 88 percent of providers who were surveyed by health IT thought leaders earlier this year had invested or were evaluating investments in RPM technologies.

RPM solutions have been proven to be clinically effective as an early symptom management tool for chronically ill patients, who represented about 45 percent of the US population according to the survey. These solutions allowed risk-bearing organizations to remotely monitor patients with chronic conditions to help control healthcare costs, improve care quality, and increase access to care for patients in underserved areas.

In addition, these solutions helped manage value-based risk associated with large patient populations with chronic conditions.

“The ability of the device to simultaneously record multiple variables such as heart rate and accelerometer data allowed us to more accurately determine the patient’s state, whether he/ she is active, sedentary, asleep, or not currently using the device,” the researchers reported.

Because remote patient monitoring is becoming more widespread, more healthcare organizations are implementing RPM into their health systems. Recently, Humana announced a partnership with Philips Health to launch a remote member monitoring pilot for certain Medicare Advantage members with severe congestive heart failure (CHF).

“Our goal is to continue to find ways to help our Medicare Advantage members stay longer and safer in their homes,” Susan Diamond, president of Humana’s Home Business segment, said in a press release.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Jan 12
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Charleston PA begins mental health practice that lives on internet, sign of times to come

By News

Sherlonda Adkins has opened her own internet-based independent practice, PsychConnect, where she will see patients across the state. Brad Nettles/Staff

With American workers increasingly choosing to work from home, one South Carolina woman is following suit, though in a profession still trying to find its place online.

Sherlonda Adkins, a Charleston-area physician assistant, began a psychiatry practice tailored to exist almost entirely on the internet.

Solutions that allow patients to access health care from the privacy of their homes or just about anywhere else are on the rise. Hospitals are developing ways to connect specialists to other medical centers, schools and patients’ phones. Urgent care visits via a laptop have seen widespread adoption by the likes of pharmacy giants CVS Health and Walgreens. And inmates in South Carolina can see a mental health care provider from inside prison walls.

It’s not just patients whose routine may be changing because of the telehealth trend. For Adkins, having the option on the table also gave her new flexibility in her job.

She graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina’s physician assistant program in 2014 and went to work for a local psychiatry practice. Her patient base began to grow, she said, in part, because of the long wait times for psychiatrists in Charleston. In 2019, she came up with the idea to begin her own practice, called PsychConnect Health, which lives on the web.

“As long as I have internet, I can see patients,” Adkins said.

 

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Jan 09
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Pediatric Telehealth Research Supported by Multimillion-Dollar Grant

By News

By JOHN LEWIS & TABITHA SAFDI of SCETV

A group of health care providers including the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) received a $3.6 million grant to support large-scale research for telehealth in pediatric care.

The five-year grant will “support the development of telehealth research efforts, metric development, identification of best practices and the development of collaborative policy and advocacy materials across the country,” MUSC said in a news release.

“One of the key missing ingredients to the advancement of telehealth nationally and at the local and state levels was the lack of quality research on pediatric telehealth,” said Dr. David McSwain, the chief medical information officer at MUSC.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

 

Jul 24
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School-based Telehealth: Family Health Centers Working with Bamberg, Calhoun Districts to Expand Care

By Blog, Latest News, News

–Times and Democrat

“One of the state’s largest community health centers is kicking off a school-based telehealth program in Calhoun and Bamberg counties to increase health care access for children in rural and underserved areas.

Family Health Centers Inc. in Orangeburg has partnered with Bamberg School District 2 and Calhoun County Public Schools to provide telehealth services in the following schools: Denmark-Olar Elementary School, Denmark-Olar Middle School, Denmark-Olar High School, Sandy Run K-8 School, St. Matthews K-8 School and Calhoun County High School.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Feb 11
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Palmetto Care Connections Names Director of Public Relations and Program Development

By Blog, Latest News, News

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BAMBERG, SC—Palmetto Care Connections has named Kathy Rhoad, FACHE as director of public relations and program development.

Rhoad has more than 30 years of marketing and public relations experience with twenty-five years in healthcare marketing and strategy. At Palmetto Care Connections, Kathy leads public relations and program development to enhance rural telehealth initiatives throughout South Carolina.

“Kathy has a passion for rural healthcare that she has exemplified throughout her career,” said Kathy Schwarting, MHA, chief executive officer of Palmetto Care Connections (PCC). “Having worked with her previously, I know first-hand of her dedication, commitment and success in achieving goals for the growth and development of an organization. Palmetto Care Connections is extremely fortunate to have her on the team.”

Established in 2010, PCC is a non-profit organization that provides technology, broadband, and telehealth support services to healthcare providers in rural or underserved areas in S.C. PCC is the leader of the Palmetto State Providers Network, a broadband consortium which facilitates broadband connections throughout the state. PCC co-chairs the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance, along with the Medical University of South Carolina, partnering with healthcare organizations and providers to improve health care access and delivery for all South Carolinians.

Prior to joining PCC, Kathy was Interim Associate Vice President of Strategic Planning and Marketing at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, serving on the senior leadership team, coordinating strategic objectives, including the construction of a new freestanding emergency department in Bamberg County, and supervising Marketing, Public Relations, Physician Relations, Employer Relations, Community Outreach, Volunteers, Risk Management, Compliance, Contracts, Regulatory Relations and the Tri-County Health Network.

Previous positions include director of marketing and public relations for Bamberg County Hospital and Nursing Center; physician recruiter and marketing specialist for Low Country Health Network serving Bamberg, Barnwell, Allendale and Hampton counties; public information officer at Denmark Technical College; and public relations specialist at Newman, Saylor and Gregory, a full-service marketing agency.

Rhoad has a master’s degree in advertising and public relations from the University of South Carolina College of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia.

A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), Kathy is a graduate of the South Carolina Hospital Association’s Management Academy, and a graduate of Leadership Orangeburg County. She completed the American Hospital Association’s Society of Healthcare Strategy and Market Development online Strategic Planning Certificate series.

She has been published in the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development’s “Spectrum” magazine, “Modern Hospital” magazine, and she presented at Becker’s Hospital Review 5th Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Her current community involvement includes: CASA Family Systems Board of Directors; Home Federal Savings and Loan Board of Directors; Bamberg County Chorale; Apollo Music Club; and the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Rhoad is a member of Church of the Redeemer in Orangeburg where she sings in the choir.

She and her husband William D. “Billy” Rhoad, IV have been married for 30 years. They reside in Bamberg and have two grown children.

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Feb 11
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Palmetto Care Connections Names Director of Public Relations and Program Development

By News, Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BAMBERG, SC—Palmetto Care Connections has named Kathy Rhoad, FACHE as director of public relations and program development.

Rhoad has more than 30 years of marketing and public relations experience with twenty-five years in healthcare marketing and strategy. At Palmetto Care Connections, Kathy leads public relations and program development to enhance rural telehealth initiatives throughout South Carolina.

“Kathy has a passion for rural healthcare that she has exemplified throughout her career,” said Kathy Schwarting, MHA, chief executive officer of Palmetto Care Connections (PCC). “Having worked with her previously, I know first-hand of her dedication, commitment and success in achieving goals for the growth and development of an organization. Palmetto Care Connections is extremely fortunate to have her on the team.”

Established in 2010, PCC is a non-profit organization that provides technology, broadband, and telehealth support services to healthcare providers in rural or underserved areas in S.C. PCC is the leader of the Palmetto State Providers Network, a broadband consortium which facilitates broadband connections throughout the state. PCC co-chairs the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance, along with the Medical University of South Carolina, partnering with healthcare organizations and providers to improve health care access and delivery for all South Carolinians.

Prior to joining PCC, Kathy was Interim Associate Vice President of Strategic Planning and Marketing at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, serving on the senior leadership team, coordinating strategic objectives, including the construction of a new freestanding emergency department in Bamberg County, and supervising Marketing, Public Relations, Physician Relations, Employer Relations, Community Outreach, Volunteers, Risk Management, Compliance, Contracts, Regulatory Relations and the Tri-County Health Network.

Previous positions include director of marketing and public relations for Bamberg County Hospital and Nursing Center; physician recruiter and marketing specialist for Low Country Health Network serving Bamberg, Barnwell, Allendale and Hampton counties; public information officer at Denmark Technical College; and public relations specialist at Newman, Saylor and Gregory, a full-service marketing agency.

Rhoad has a master’s degree in advertising and public relations from the University of South Carolina College of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia.

A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), Kathy is a graduate of the South Carolina Hospital Association’s Management Academy, and a graduate of Leadership Orangeburg County. She completed the American Hospital Association’s Society of Healthcare Strategy and Market Development online Strategic Planning Certificate series.

She has been published in the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development’s “Spectrum” magazine, “Modern Hospital” magazine, and she presented at Becker’s Hospital Review 5th Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Her current community involvement includes: CASA Family Systems Board of Directors; Home Federal Savings and Loan Board of Directors; Bamberg County Chorale; Apollo Music Club; and the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Rhoad is a member of Church of the Redeemer in Orangeburg where she sings in the choir.

She and her husband William D. “Billy” Rhoad, IV have been married for 30 years. They reside in Bamberg and have two grown children.

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Jan 08
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Most Physicians Not Aware of CMS’s Expanded Virtual Care Provisions, Survey Finds

By Blog, Latest News, News

-Healthcare Informatics

“For the first time, starting in 2019, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will reimburse healthcare providers for certain virtual care visits with patients, regardless of the patient’s location—a move that has drawn praise from many healthcare leaders as helping to advance telehealth.”

Click here to read the full article.

Oct 24
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Bamberg County Telehealth Awareness Event

By Blog, Latest News, News

-Palmetto Care Connections

Telehealth Awareness Week is an initiative led by the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance (SCTA). Throughout the week of October 15-19, 2018, several events were held by partners of SCTA including Palmetto Care Connections (PCC). PCC partnered with Bamberg School District One to host an event on Thursday, October 18, at Bamberg- Ehrhardt High School in observance of Telehealth Awareness Week. This event highlighted Bamberg School District One’s School-Based Telehealth Program and included a live telehealth demonstration conducted by Danette McAlhaney, MD, Bamberg Family Practice and Blake Williams, RN, Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School Nurse. Speakers of this event included Kathy Schwarting, Palmetto Care Connections Chief Executive Officer, Phyllis Schwarting, Bamberg School District One Superintendent, Trent Kinard, Bamberg County Councilman, and Rick Foster, MD, Alliance for a Healthier SC Executive Director.

School-Based Telehealth allows students to see a healthcare provider in a school setting reducing the number of school absenteeism for students and missed work days for parents. The healthcare provider is able to examine the patient (student) through the telehealth equipment operated by the telepresenter or school nurse.

Pictured at the front of the room: Kathy Schwarting, Palmetto Care Connections Chief Executive Officer, Danette McAlhaney, MD (on the cart screen) Bamberg Family Practice, Blake Williams, RN, BEHS School Nurse, and AJ McAlhaney (live demonstration patient)

Telehealth equipment is located at all three schools in Bamberg School District One and operated by the school nurses trained by Palmetto Care Connections.  When a student needs to be seen for acute care or chronic care conditions, the school nurse can use the telehealth equipment at the school to connect with a local family practitioner at Bamberg Family Practice to complete the examination. The Medical University of South Carolina Center for Telehealth is used as an alternative provider if the local family practitioner is not available.

Pictured from left to right: Trent Kinard, Bamberg County Councilman, Kathy Schwarting, Palmetto Care Connections Chief Executive Officer, Phyllis Schwarting, Bamberg School District One Superintendent, and Nancy Foster, Mayor, City of Bamberg

At this event, Palmetto Care Connections also received a proclamation from Bamberg County Council proclaiming the third week of October as Telehealth Awareness Week in Bamberg County.

“We are very excited to work with the Bamberg County Council to promote the use of telehealth in the schools as well as in local provider clinics. We want to make sure that our children are healthy and read to learn in the school environment. Telehealth technology in the schools can reduce absenteeism and reduce unnecessary emergency department usage,” said Kathy Schwarting, CEO of Palmetto Care Connections and Co-Chair of the SCTA.”

“We want every citizen in South Carolina to at least know what telehealth services are available to them, and their loved ones. Our legislators are supporting this so everyone has access to high quality care, urban, suburban and rural citizens,” said Dr. McElligott, Co-Chair of the SCTA.

Palmetto Care Connections is a nonprofit organization, based in Bamberg, SC, that promotes the use of telehealth to improve access to care in rural and underserved communities. PCC also works with healthcare providers across South Carolina to ensure they have affordable and reliable broadband connectivity that is needed to implement telehealth services.

Learn more about Telehealth Awareness Week at www.sctelehealth.org .

Learn more about Palmetto Care Connections at www.palmettocareconnections.org.

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