Earlier this month, Congress passed the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act. This legislation allows physicians and other providers to bill Medicare fee-for-service for patient care delivered by telehealth during the current coronavirus public health emergency.
Similarly, health insurers are also loosening previous restrictions on telehealth, from both patient access or reimbursement perspectives, to allow providers on the frontlines of testing, diagnosing or caring for infected patients.
Because of these rapidly changing regulations, it’s difficult to tell providers how much of their telehealth services are reimbursable but it is apparent that a pandemic of this magnitude is pushing the use of telehealth to the forefront of care management.
Updox Response
In light of the COVID-19 crisis and to help healthcare providers connect with patients in ways that support care delivery in a safe, secure environment, Updox is temporarily offering Updox Video Chat or the combination of Updox Secure Text and Updox Video Chat at a significantly discounted price to customers and prospects looking to get started quickly. To support taking care of patients during this COVID-19 crisis, we are extending this reduced rate for Video Chat and Secure Text for six months.
Providers are seeking out Updox Video Chat specifically because it is simple to get started, requires no special downloads or apps and is as easy to use for patients as making a phone call. We understand your office is busy and you want to start using telehealth today – we’ve extended our office hours to make sure you have the information and answers you need to get started now.
We want to ensure providers have convenient, accessible and easy-to-use tools needed to care for their patients, maintain revenue within their businesses and protect themselves and their staff. Both Secure Text and Video Chat give healthcare a trusted solution to reach patients who may be too ill to get to the office, homebound, quarantined, traveling, not mobile or in rural environments.
This offer gives providers the opportunity for safe, effective screening and treatment, while helping reduce exposure or further exposure to protect staff and patients. This offer also supports smaller organizations faced with the situation where the provider may be quarantined but still able to offer counsel.
Interested providers should complete this form and an Updox staff member will contact them to answer questions, schedule a quick demo, or get them registered. We’ve also prepared tutorial videos and online learning guides to get started as quickly as possible so providers and staff can get comfortable using the solution and share information with patients.
Use Cases for Telehealth Include:
- Triage patients to determine and evaluate risk
- Provide sick or exposed staff with a virtual care option to limit exposure while maintaining productivity of business operations
- Proactively communicate with patients, other providers or local officials regarding local and national updates
- Share educational content
- Reducing non-emergent office visits
- Adjusting therapy
- Promote continuity of care, minimize liability and mitigate costly hospital admissions
On a personal note, all of Updox sends our support to all those affected by this pandemic and to the American healthcare industry as it ramps up what it does best – caring for communities.
For more information about Updox Video Chat and Secure Text solutions, answer any questions or schedule a quick demo to see if the solutions would work in your practice, visit our Telehealth information page.
