Telemedicine is the driver behind expanding digital health services, followed by mobile health applications and wearables for remote patient monitoring.

Despite issues related to getting paid from insurance companies and regulatory red tape, health systems are poised to ramp up more forms of telehealth in 2018.

A survey of 100 health systems by Foley & Lardner, a Chicago law firm with a practice that includes digital healthcare, also finds that telehealth is the technology and services program many organizations say they will use to expand digital healthcare going forward.

75% of survey respondents say they now offer—or plan to offer—telehealth and 50% have plans to expand telemedicine into more areas, including treating more patients from overseas. Nearly 70% of respondents (68%) describe their telemedicine program as beyond the implementation phase and 53% of healthcare executives say they are in a growth phase. 15% of healthcare organizations described their telehealth program as mature.

“Healthcare organizations have realized telemedicine is not just a fad or a pilot program,” says Nathaniel Lacktman, a partner and healthcare lawyer with Foley & Lardner and chair of the firm’s telemedicine industry initiative.

Other survey findings include:

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  • More than 60% of healthcare organizations report they are happy with the performance of their current telehealth program.
  • 50% of health systems say patients paying for digital doctor visits from their own pocket accounts for about one-half of all telehealth payments.
  • One-third of all survey participants say 50% or more of patients continue with telehealth after the initial visit.
  • 50% of healthcare systems include telehealth in their remote patient monitoring program.
  • 29% of healthcare systems say their organization has achieved cost savings or seen a return on investment of 20% or higher from telehealth.

Despite the fact that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services increased spending on telehealth payments for Medicare in the last year to $28.8 billion, getting paid by commercial insurers for digital doctor visits remains a problem. “More than half of respondents tagged third-party reimbursement as the greatest challenge to implementation,” the survey says. “While three-quarters reported that all or some of their telemedicine services were reimbursed, a third said rates were lower than identical in-patient services.”

Telemedicine was the most common driver behind expanding digital health services, followed by mobile health applications, wearable devices for remote patient monitoring and patient health records, the survey says. Roughly one-third of respondents also say they plan to use digital technology to monitor patients and track adverse events. Medical monitoring was the most prevalent use for digital hardware, with the technology also in frequent use as a diagnostic tool and for external storage of data.

More than half of respondents also note they need hardware or software to help them meet their goals for monitoring patient compliance with therapy. Patient interaction portals, lab testing and disease diagnosis also drew strong interest among providers, according to the survey.

“The survey found that hospitals, specialty clinics and other healthcare organizations have overcome past hesitations and are now embracing telemedicine’s potential to provide quality services and generate revenue regardless of geography,” Lacktman says. “In fact, organizations are moving aggressively to implement telemedicine-based offerings for high-demand services like online specialty/second opinions and mental health.”

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