Amy Lerman, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Health Data Management, in “Telehealth Service Acceptance in Behavioral Health Is On the Rise,” by Joseph Goedert.
Following is an excerpt:
There’s growing acceptance of telehealth services among healthcare behavioral organizations and state and federal officials.
In the past two years, healthcare industry recognition of the benefits of telehealth has continually increased, according to the law firm of Epstein Becker Green in Chicago finds, which has new data on 2018 updates to state telehealth laws, regulations and policies for behavioral health professionals.
“While the shortage of behavioral health providers has long been acknowledged, the use of telehealth technologies—including practice management systems and online patient portals—to provide greater access to behavioral health professionals has increasingly gained traction and continues to gain validation as an alternative model of care delivery,” authors of the report contend. …
“As access to this method of care expands, it also opens the door for various subsets of medicine, including behavioral and telemental health,” says Amy Lerman, leader of the firm’s survey initiative and a healthcare and life sciences attorney at the law firm. “We are excited to find that it is still evolving, growing and improving Americans’ quality of life.” …
Epstein Becker Green finds three core drivers of telehealth expansion. They include the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 that expanded Medicare coverage for telehealth for beneficiaries in accountable care organizations; encouragement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for states to support telehealth to care for Medicaid recipients; and the fact that Massachusetts now is the only state not yet reimbursing for telehealth services.
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