Caregility President and COO Mike Brandofino recently sat down with Journal of AHIMA editor Mary Butler to discuss telehealth’s role in easing provider burden during the COVID-19 response, as well as future outbreaks and pandemics.
The interview touches on the use of telehealth to support provider efforts, from remote clinical assessments to at-home monitoring of at-risk patients. Brandofino addresses the uptick in provider demand fueled by the current outbreak, the logistics of telehealth implementation, and the additional telehealth funding recently approved by Congress.
JAHIMA: Last week Congress approved extra funding for telehealth. Were you happy to see that and will that help providers use a solution like yours?
MB: We’re so glad that they had the foresight. We’re starting to see some movement in coverage of telehealth sessions. They approved coverage of things like Teladoc, which is a patient with a doctor for a 20-minute session, but they hadn’t yet really done coverage for this e-sitting or for the monitoring in the ICU. That’s still underway. But the fact that they recognize telehealth as having a potential large impact in fighting COVID-19, we’re happy with that. And I think it’ll enable some hospitals that haven’t had funding to get telehealth programs underway.
Read the full interview in the Journal of AHIMA: Could Telehealth Ease Provider Burden During COVID-19 Response?
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To support customers during the current pandemic, Caregility has created a COVID-19 Virtual Disaster Response Program to help health systems plan, prepare for, and manage patients. This includes offering existing health system customers expanded capacity and use of iObserver and iConsult Mobile solutions during the crisis.