Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was quoted as saying, “I can’t imagine going back” when asked abuot the future of telehealth sessions for Medicare and Medicaid patients. She continued, “People recognize the value of this, so it seems like it would not be a good thing to force our beneficiaries to go back to in-person visits.”
Many providers have made the switch to telehealth these past few months as a way to offer continuity of care and give patients the care that they need while respecting the stay at home orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For many, utilizing Facetime, Duo or even just a phone call have been the easiest way to get that done. While these are not the best ways to conduct telehealth sessions due to privacy and security issue, it has been allowed over the past few months by our Governing bodies agreeing to not prosecute HIPAA violations when doing telehealth sessions.
If you are looking ahead and realizing that telehealth in some form is going to be a part of your future, it would be best for providers and clients to consider secure, HIPAA compliant options. The good news is that being secure and HIPAA compliant can also be simple. We will set up the accounts for you and lock the security settings, provide instructions and training to all participants, provide ongoing technical support for all users so appointments are not missed, and we will sign the Business Associate Agreement ensuring your security. Contact us to hear more about Secure Telehealth.
