Telehealth, Blackburn said, has proven an immensely beneficial form of delivering treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ new rule to increase telehealth access for Medicare Advantage recipients in rural areas is a solid step toward expanding coverage for Americans in need, Blackburn said.
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All of Lisa's doctor's appointments over the last couple months have been by video call. It's actually been pretty nice not having to drive her down to Gallatin and me sitting in a waiting room for an hour or two.
My wife just got a bill for one of these video doctor visits, which was a "routine" visit. They wanted to charge her over $300 to talk to the doctor on the phone. Her regular office visit is $75, for her specialist. Yeah, there was much time spent on the phone with the insurance company and the billing dept. yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI got a call from my doc's office wanting me to set up a tele-medicine call. It makes no sense whatsoever! How do they draw my blood over the internet, listen to my heart, hear my ragged breathing? It's a sham in order for them to be able to bill you and the insurance company. Sadly, as a respectable profession, I now include physicians with lawyers and used car salesmen.
ReplyDeleteI called my Doc and asked him if he could check my prostate over the net. He said tune into PornHub and call him back in the morning.
DeleteIt's not for your protection....it's for theirs', and for that they feel entitled to bill higher for the service....
ReplyDeleteI had a phone visit with my VA doc a couple weeks ago. Leading up to it I got a call from the Doc's admin person (nurse?) to arrange time and date which was a couple days after my original scheduled visit. I asked the admin if the doc wanted to see my Blood Pressure readings. He responds with "Do you have a Blood Pressure cuff?" To which I replied "Do you really think I'd be asking if the doc wanted to see my Blood Pressure readings if I didn't have some way of of taking my Blood Pressure?"
ReplyDeleteSuch is level of competence at the VA these days.
Nemo
I've had several of these over the last couple months, convenient for getting prescriptions renewed since the dr office is 15 miles away.
ReplyDeleteJD
I've had 2 "telehealth" visits so far.Although mine were over the phone instead of video.
ReplyDeleteOne to my PCP was routine although blood glucose levels and BP weren't addressed as I've no monitor or meter for either. Got refills for all my 'scrips....
The other with my new cardiologist was a farce.
Noticed when checking CMS website that my portion of the bill wasn't any cheaper.