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Telemedicine Searches For Strategy, Adoption: Page 2 of 2

However, the push to get health plans to pay for telemedicine services received another boost this month when Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed the "Telemedicine Bill" into law. The new law mandates that health plans and HMOs pay for telemedicine services. Virginia joined 11 other states including California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas that have adopted similar legislation.

The use of smartphones for medical care may hold another opportunity, the report indicates. Smartphone users are three times more likely than other mobile phone users to use the device for medical scheduling. In the survey, 9.7 percent said they were more likely to use their smartphones for reminders to schedule a medical appointment compared with non smartphone users only 3 percent of whom said they would use their mobile phone to do the same tasks.

As smartphone penetration grows there will be a corresponding growth in the number of people using smart phones for their healthcare needs, Berlinsky predicts. Another encouraging sign is that 44 percent of respondents who live in households with a member using a remote patient monitoring (RPM) device, said they would purchase a health device from their cable or telephone company as opposed to 17 percent of non RPM users who said they would buy a health device from their cable or telephone company.

As the report highlights areas of opportunity for telemedicine, Berlinsky said telecommunications companies, technology vendors, and healthcare payers and providers need to collaborate more effectively if the technology is to reach its full potential.

One recent sign that things are moving in the right direction came earlier this month when AT&T announced a $27 million contract with the University of California to provide managed network services in support of telehealth initiatives.

The University of California is involved in establishing the California Telehealth Network (CTN). The vision of CTN is to deliver new models of care utilizing technology to assist the health needs of patients in rural and urban areas of California.

"Telecommunications and cable providers need to leverage the control they have over their networks and implement a quality of service to their healthcare customers, vendors need to develop marketable solutions that prioritize simplicity for their customers and healthcare providers need to align incentives because it's very important that telemedicine gets reimbursed," Berlinsky said.

Undoubtedly Telemedicine technology is not widespread, and the small signs of hope are just that, but Berlinsky thinks the federal governments support behind telemedicine by including it in the stimulus package, along with the FCC's broadband expansion plan will go a far way to push the technology forward.

"It's a bit of an uphill climb, but if you talk to people in the industry they are much more excited about the prospect now than they were a couple of years ago," Berlinsky said.

For Further Reading:

Telehealth Links Doctors To Remote Patients In Need

Gallery: Wireless Telehealth Brings Medical Help To Those In Need