Boston, MA – Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts and several of its member agencies joined State Senator Harriette L. Chandler to testify in support of a legislative proposal on establishing telehealth remote patient monitoring as a reimbursable service through Medicaid. Chandler’s bill was among a list of others that were the subject of a public hearing before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.
“This bill has been filed in previous sessions, but I truly believe that we that this is the most appropriate time for the passage of this bill. The savings per patient is undeniable and in these times we are looking every savings available,” said Chandler.
According to a report by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, 76 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 are heading towards retirement age and “self –care technologies and programs will be increasingly needed to meet the needs of this nation’s aging population – especially in light of a continuing health care labor shortage.” Kelleher also noted in her testimony to the committee of state legislators that Johns Hopkins University reported 90 percent of Americans over the age of 65 have one or more chronic diseases.
For more information on the Home Care Alliance and to read the Alliance’s testimony in support of telehealth, please visit www.thinkhomecare.org.
“In both concept and practice, telehealth presents solutions to a number of different issues,” said Home Care Alliance Executive Director Patricia Kelleher. “This service provides an ideal answer to the questions of how to care for an aging population, deal with a health care workforce shortage, and lower ballooning health care costs in the midst of a recession.”
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services allow telehealth to be included as a state service receiving federal matching funds and has the billing and cost infrastructure in place in terms of code definitions and procedures. Telehealth services are already utilized across the United States, including in Massachusetts, and several other states, including New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania, have passed legislation making the service Medicaid reimbursable.
For more information on the Home Care Alliance and to read the Alliance’s testimony in support of telehealth, please visit www.thinkhomecare.org.
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