The Role of EHR Reimbursement for Telemedicine

Telemedicine has gained traction over the past few years. More and more healthcare providers seek to reduce costs and improve patient care. While telemedicine is a highly effective form of care, it is not always covered by health insurance companies. For this reason, many healthcare providers use EHR reimbursement to offset some costs of providing this valuable service.

Telehealth businesses rely on reimbursements from third-party payers, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies. An EHR system can help automate the process of submitting claims, ensuring that information is accurate and up to date. Also, an EHR system prevents fraud and make it easier to track payments.

The healthcare industry has multiple components, such as hospitals, retail clinics, and home healthcare. Retail clinics and home care are the two fastest-growing segments.

The industry is focused on improving access to healthcare, often by using technology.

In this blog post, we will explore the role of EHR reimbursement for telehealth solutions.

What is EHR reimbursement?

EHR reimbursement refers to an incentive program that allows healthcare providers to receive payments for electronic health records. The program is available to most healthcare providers with an EHR certification , including hospitals, physician groups, and clinics. Companies make payments through various mechanisms, including capitated payments, negotiated discounts, and rebates.

The EHR reimbursement program is a valuable incentive for healthcare providers to adopt electronic health records. The program has many benefits, including reduced costs, improved patient care, and higher efficiency.

A telehealth system with interoperable EHR lets doctors be more efficient, track better treatment outcomes, and engage with patients more readily. Telehealth will benefit if the healthcare industry continues to embrace healthcare information sharing and interoperability.

The fundamental telehealth quality indicator to assure telehealth ROI is integrated EHR. Furthermore, it reduces billing mistakes, maintains integrated electronic health data organization, and helps patients and providers.

Are EHR reimbursement and EHR incentives the same thing?

Reimbursement is the act of reimbursing a healthcare provider for expenses incurred in the course of providing healthcare services.

An EHR incentive is a financial incentive offered to healthcare providers to adopt or upgrade electronic health records.

The two terms are often interchangeable, but they are not the same. Reimbursement is a reimbursement mechanism that healthcare providers typically use to pay for expenses incurred in healthcare services. An EHR incentive is a financial incentive offered to healthcare providers to adopt or upgrade electronic health records.

When should EHR be implemented in telemedicine?

EHRs can improve patient safety by tracking patients' medications, diagnoses, and other health information. It can also help improve communication and coordination between physicians and healthcare professionals. To ensure the safety and privacy of patient data, a company usually implements and builds an EHR system in a secure and compliant manner.

Automate data entry

iUsed independently, the telehealth and EHR software complicate data input procedure. The healthcare professional must summarize the telehealth encounter. So, suppose the telehealth software isn't linked with the facility's EHR system. In that case, they'll have to enter the same information into the patient's health records again, which will take significant time and administrative effort.

However, with EHR and telehealth integration, providers no longer need to enter the same information twice. So this practice instantly reduces duplicate data entry, and administrative activities and increases workplace productivity. When a healthcare professional makes notes during a telehealth visit, the patient's health information is instantly updated in the patient's health record, significantly reducing time spent on data entering.

Synchronize patient insurance information

There are cases when monitoring telehealth coverage is difficult. The provider does not access patients' insurance information during the appointment. But now more insurance companies cover telehealth services.

Healthcare professionals may verify patient eligibility before signing up for a virtual consultation. This guarantees that suppliers are reimbursed for their time and services, avoiding workplace uncertainty and costly delays. Many EHR engineers connect their systems to insurance databases, making it easier for doctors to track patient eligibility immediately.

Streamline the provider and patient virtual care experience

When the telehealth platform is not linked with the EHR, it is not feasible to examine patient health data, scheduling, test results, and other information during doctor appointments. Managing virtual visits is easier with telehealth EHR integration because it is contained within their EHR. To provide the greatest therapeutic experience possible, providers may simply see PHI on the same screen as their patient visit.

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The role of EHR reimbursement for telemedicine

According to the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement levels for EHRs , there is a report on EHR reimbursement for telemedicine and the effect EMR ROI .

Above 394,000 qualified physicians and hospitals have registered for reimbursement, and 291,000 eligible professionals have received incentive payments, representing more than half of the qualified candidates. Payments will be kept until the physician reaches the $24,000 permitted charge ceiling. Medicare physicians may receive an extra 10% if they work in a healthcare professional shortage region.

Clinicians are reimbursed in a single yearly payment and must show meaningful usage for 90 days of continuous EHR use in the first year and the remainder of the calendar year. Physicians who do not utilize a certified EHR or show meaningful use may face fines from Medicare.

Over 3800 hospitals have received incentive payments, accounting for more than 80% of qualified institutions. Although critical access hospitals and small rural hospitals have made significant progress in meeting meaningful use standards, there is still concern that rural physicians lag behind metropolitan doctors in EHR adoption. 90% of qualified professionals obtaining compensation were from urban regions.

Additional services that improve telemedicine practice

Telemedicine is an excellent way to improve the quality of care for patients. It allows for closer coordination between physicians and specialists, remote examination, and treatment, resulting in better patient outcomes. This can help to reduce the burden on patients and their families. It can also improve the coordination of care. Also, medical practices receive more reimbursement with low patient volume due to the additional services provided by EHRs.

Additional services that improve telemedicine practice (EHR Reimbursement) include:

• Remote patient monitoring
• Real-time telehealth consultations
• Telehealth data management
• Telehealth billing and coding
• Remote patient support
• Medical record audits
• Remote patient training

Read also: Remote Patient Monitoring Software Development Guide

Our expertise and experience

We provide EHR integration and specialized telemedicine software development services . With us, you receive robust telemedicine solutions that allow you to access electronic health records quickly and securely from any device. Every member of the Binariks team has extensive expertise, awareness of best practices, and hands-on experience providing high-quality telehealth solutions. So implement EHR Reimbursement for your telehealth business with Binariks.

Not just in words, let’s see one of our EHR cases.

Our client is a cloud platform enabling doctor referrals while increasing quality patient care and satisfaction by enabling e-referring between various electronic health records.

The client planned to integrate the platform with as many EHR software providers and hospitals and doctors as possible. They needed to automate the electronic record referral and ensure the data security exchange between EHRs.

So we assembled the dedicated team, defined the responsibilities, and got these results

• Enable interoperability between different platforms
• Automate the process of e-referral generation
• Integrate data, including medical records
• Store patient information in secure storage

Final thoughts

EHR interoperability is required to combine clinical and financial data for revenue cycle management success now and in the future. Although telemedicine reimbursement and other regulatory flexibilities enabled hospitals to reorient COVID-19 operations swiftly, temporary regulations greatly improved the health policy landscape during the pandemic.

You'll need to have an EHR system to bill for your services, be familiar with the telemedicine reimbursement guidelines, and be able to bill for your services accurately.

Third, be sure to have a good understanding of your patient's medical history to treat them properly. If you're unfamiliar with their medical history, you may be unable to provide the best care for them. And finally, be sure to have a good system in place in case of emergencies to provide the best possible care for your patients.