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AZ Central: Arizona bill encourages telemedicine, a modern practice - Affiliated Dermatology is a page on Affiliated Dermatology, originally at https://affderm.com/az-central-arizona-bill-encourages-telemedicine-a-modern-practice%ef%bf%bc.
Skip to content schedule onlineBen Brown, Cronkite News | 2:36 p.m. MT Feb. 26, 2016
Modern medicine is constantly evolving – but sometimes, it develops too fast. Experts said state laws have hindered telemedicine, a technology that could be utilized to provide health care throughout Arizona.
But because the state law only requires private health insurers to cover services provided through telemedicine in rural areas – excluding Phoenix and Tucson – doctors haven’t fully embraced the practice, experts said.
“Doctors want to be reimbursed. They are small businessmen,” said Roger Downey, manager of communications at Scottsdale-based GlobalMed, which provides telemedicine equipment and support.
Telemedicine, or the ability to diagnose patients remotely through interactive audio, video or other electronic media, has been around for years. But experts said it has yet to become common practice here.
Sen. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, introduced Senate Bill 1363 to loosen restrictions on payments for telemedicine services. If it became law, health insurers would have to cover services received through telemedicine statewide as though they were “in-person” consultations. The law would take effect Jan. 1, 2018, and apply to trauma, burn, cardiology, infectious diseases, mental-health disorders, neurologic diseases, dermatology and pulmonology, according to a Senate fact sheet.
More than two dozen states have laws requiring private insurance coverage of telemedicine, according to the American Telemedicine Association.
The future of medicine
Doctors like dermatologist Richard Averitte said if the bill becomes law, it would have a dynamic impact in the medical field.
“Could you imagine if we could do 25,000 or 30,000 telemedicine visits a year because they didn’t require brick and mortar?” said Averitte, CEO and managing partner of Affiliated Dermatology, which has four locations in Arizona. “Over time, eventually you will be able to deliver some high level of medical care for some number of individuals that you see – without having that brick and mortar burden, and society overall will do better.”
Although telemedicine might have some disadvantages – such as lack of bandwidth or poor picture clarity – the medical director at the Arizona Burn Center in the Maricopa Integrated Health System said the benefits certainly outweigh the cons.
“It does have its disadvantages, but it is definitely better than a phone call,” Dr. Kevin Foster said. “They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I do believe that is true when it comes to telemedicine.”
The bill unanimously passed the Senate, and the House of Representatives will now consider the measure.
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Click here for the full article and here for the media clip.
As seen in The Des Moines Register and Cronkite News.
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Video transcripts
Video transcript: Senate Bill 1363 hopes to make telemedicine more accessible
Watch the source video on YouTube
[00:00:00] modern medicine is playing catch-up to
[00:00:02] the smartphone when it comes to patient
[00:00:04] care but it's not for a lack of
[00:00:05] technology reporter ben Brown tells us
[00:00:08] of a new Senate bill that could enhance
[00:00:10] telemedicine so here's a really good one
[00:00:13] nice and brown you know and everything
[00:00:16] around it looks really good Scottsdale
[00:00:18] dermatologist Richard averett is
[00:00:20] conducting a routine skin examination
[00:00:22] via telemedicine can look at all these
[00:00:24] other brown spots I can see the what we
[00:00:26] call the longer Hans and I would do many
[00:00:28] more if you were reimbursed for his time
[00:00:31] could you imagine if we could do
[00:00:33] twenty-five or thirty thousand
[00:00:35] telemedicine visits a year because they
[00:00:37] didn't require brick and mortar biopsy
[00:00:40] that is should be by us the ability to
[00:00:43] diagnose patients remotely without
[00:00:44] meeting face-to-face has been around for
[00:00:47] about 40 years however it has yet to
[00:00:49] become common practice here in Arizona
[00:00:51] because only doctors who treat patients
[00:00:53] and rural areas are getting paid for it
[00:00:56] if Senate bill 1363 becomes law areas
[00:00:59] like here in Metro Tucson and here metro
[00:01:04] Phoenix doctors will get paid because
[00:01:06] patients would be eligible for
[00:01:07] reimbursement for telemedicine visits
[00:01:09] scottsdale-based global med is one of
[00:01:12] the largest distributors of telemedicine
[00:01:14] equipment doctors want to be reimbursed
[00:01:17] they are small businessmen if they
[00:01:19] aren't reimbursed well they're not
[00:01:21] involved in that particular area of a
[00:01:23] practice telemedicine if it's reimbursed
[00:01:26] will become a focus for physicians
[00:01:29] including doctors at the Arizona Burn
[00:01:31] Center it does have its disadvantages
[00:01:32] but it has definitely better than a
[00:01:34] phone call they say a picture's worth a
[00:01:36] thousand words and I do believe that's
[00:01:38] true when it comes to telemedicine
[00:01:39] doctors say telemedicine could say money
[00:01:42] time and most importantly lives in
[00:01:45] Phoenix Finn brown Cronkite news the
[00:01:49] bill unanimously passed the Senate and
[00:01:51] the House of Representatives will now
[00:01:52] look at the measure