Employee Safety and Wellness
Insurers
Telehealth for Occupational Medicine and Surgery
Why Choose eOccMed.com
You are probably aware that the number of qualified doctors in the U.S. is rapidly declining, for a number of reasons. Right now, there is an estimated shortage of 45,000 primary care physicians, and by 2025, this deficit will reach up to 90,000, including specialists (American Association of Medical Colleges).
More and more, telemedicine has filled this growing gap, particularly in remote, underserved areas, as well as in workplaces around the country. According to the American Telemedicine Association:
There are currently about 200 telemedicine networks, with 3,500 service sites in the US. … Over half of all U.S. hospitals now use some form of telemedicine. Around the world, millions of patients use telemedicine to monitor their vital signs, remain healthy and out of hospitals and emergency rooms.
The benefits of adding telemedicine by eOccMed to your coverage offerings are many:
- Employers save lost work time and healthcare costs
- Provide convenient access to high-quality physicians
- Reduce need for emergency room visits
- Enhanced patient satisfaction
- Shorter recovery, faster return-to-work
- Referrals to network physicians for diagnostics and ancillaries
Insurance and Workers’ Compensation Coverage
There is rising evidence that telemedicine can promote faster care, both privately and for workers’ compensation cases. “Telephonic and video conferencing between doctors and patients has been used in rural areas where the nearest doctor can be too far away to receive care quickly enough. Now it can be used to reduce the time it takes to see a doctor and cut down on ER and office visits, shortening claim duration and lowering costs.” (Risk&Insurance, 1/17/15)
According to the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), currently 29 states (including California) and the District of Columbia require that private insurers cover telehealth and telemedicine the same as they cover in-person services. While this is a great beginning, eOccMed would like to see this acceptance of telemedicine extend to the remaining 21 states, as well as by workers’ compensation carriers across the nation.
Our leadership remains at the forefront of regulation issues in the State of California and is actively engaged in advocating legislation for reimbursement of telemedicine services by Worker’s Compensation carriers, while closely watching developments in other states.
At present, the State of Nevada leads the nation in this endeavor, since passing its TeleHealth Advancement Act of 2015, which makes it the only state so far to extend reimbursement for telemedicine services under workers’ compensation (WorkersCompZone, 6/25/15). This same issue is currently under consideration by Oklahoma legislators as well, driven by the state’s large rural workforce, according to Oklahoma Worker’s Compensation Commissioner, Robert Gilliland (Modern Healthcare, 7/7/14).
We are excited about contributing to new telemedicine regulations in order to better serve our valued customers in the workplace.
Contact Us to learn more about Employee Wellness and Safety telemedicine solutions from eOccMed.com.
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