California Governor Jerry Brown last week signed a bill to make it easier for rural patients to utilize telehealth technology. Assembly Bill 809 changes the consent rules around use of telehealth, allowing providers to secure consent the first time patients use the technology, and removes the...
The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) and the American Hospital Association (AHA) this week announced their approval of CMS’ recommended expansion of telemedicine coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. The AHA and ATA separately addressed the possible telemedicine expansion in CMS’ proposed...
An Iowa Board of Medicine administrative rule banning abortion through a teleconferencing system is politically motivated and “based on a conservative-leaning panel appointed by a conservative governor in opposition to abortion,” not on medical practices that would benefit rural patients,...
Nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA) were originally envisioned to provide primary care services in underserved areas. To gauge NP and PA activity in non-primary care roles, Brett Coldiron, MD, and Mondhipa Ratnarathorn, MD, studied the scope of independent procedural...
This month we continue with a series on practical tips for medical staff leaders to deal with a host of challenges that they may encounter in their roles. The challenges and solutions are excerpted from The Medical Staff Leader's Survival Guide, which was recently published by HCPro. The...