Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Blogs
    • AI
    • Deals
    • Layoff Tracker
    • HIMSS 2023
  • Opinion
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - AI and Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
  • Data & Insights
    • Data & Insights Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Information Technology
November 25, 2019 11:19 AM

Telemedicine growth follows 'Anywhere to Anywhere' rule at VA

Jessica Kim Cohen
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Veterans Affairs Department building
    AP

    The Veterans Affairs Department reported significant telemedicine growth for fiscal 2019, the first full year since implementing a policy that lifted state licensing requirements for VA providers practicing virtual care.

    State licensing restrictions have posed a challenge for telemedicine adoption nationwide, and some have suggested the VA's policy could be a first step toward thinking about a national medical practice licensing concept.

    More than 900,000 veterans used VA telemedicine services in fiscal 2019, up 17% from the previous year, the VA said Friday.

    "VA is committed to offering veterans the healthcare they deserve, whenever and wherever they need it," VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement.

    Growing use of telemedicine among veterans is reflective of the U.S. population at large.

    The VA has offered telemedicine services for years, said Dr. Ron Moody, chief medical officer at consulting firm Accenture's federal services division, though that historically involved connecting clinicians and patients in one facility to clinicians in another facility. Most of the VA's recent growth has come from its push to serve patients at home, outside of a hospital or clinic, he said.

    That's in part as a result of recent policy changes at the VA, which have allowed the agency to cut across some of the regulatory barriers hindering increased telemedicine adoption in the private sector.

    State licensing requirements have posed a major hurdle for many healthcare organizations, according to a 2017 survey conducted by law firm Foley & Lardner. State-by-state licensing often means that a physician practicing in one state can't conduct a video visit with a patient located in another state.

    Those licensing restrictions have made it "very complicated" for national and regional health systems to roll out telemedicine programs, since not all of the system's providers will be eligible to provide care for each of the system's patients, said Dr. Kevin Vigilante, executive vice president at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

    That's something the VA has been able to bypass through a federal rule finalized in May 2018, which overruled requirements for state licensing—allowing VA physicians and nurses to administer care to veterans via telemedicine across state borders.

    The rule's helped the agency to make telehealth as "effective as possible," said Alex Lennox-Miller, a senior analyst with market research firm Chilmark Research.

    That not only alleviates barriers for patients seeking input from specialists out-of-state, but also helps the VA to "balance resources," Vigilante said, focusing on having an appropriate amount of providers who can use telemedicine to serve the VA's patient population, without regard for their location.

    The VA plans to make all primary-care and mental-healthcare providers available to deliver care to patients in person and via telemedicine by the end of fiscal 2020.

    The 2018 rule was part of an initiative the VA calls "Anywhere to Anywhere," which the agency unveiled in 2017 during Dr. David Shulkin's tenure as VA secretary. The rule, which the VA proposed in late 2017, was finalized in May 2018 after Wilkie assumed the VA secretary role in an acting capacity.

    "This new rule is critical to VA's 'Anywhere to Anywhere' initiative," Wilkie said at the time. "Now that the rule has been finalized, VA providers and patients can start enjoying the full benefits of VA's telehealth services."

    The "Anywhere to Anywhere" program applies to any telemedicine services that veterans access, whether at a VA facility, online through a website or through VA Video Connect, a telemedicine app the VA began rolling out in 2017. Through the app, veterans can schedule video appointments and message their providers.

    More than 99,000 veterans used the VA Video Connect app in fiscal 2019 to complete roughly 294,000 video sessions, more than two-thirds of which were for mental healthcare, the VA said.

    The VA did not share the top specialty or use case for its telemedicine services overall and didn't respond to a request for comment on its telemedicine services.

    With private-sector hurdles like state regulation accounted for, ensuring that veterans are in areas with the broadband infrastructure needed to complete high-quality telemedicine visits is the main challenge that remains for the VA to tackle, Lennox-Miller said.

    Nearly one-quarter of veterans live in rural regions, according to findings that the U.S. Census Bureau released in 2017. And roughly 31% of rural residents lack access to wired broadband that meets the Federal Communications Commission's speed benchmark, according to a 2018 FCC report.

    That's something the FCC is working to address through the Connected Care Pilot, a $100 million pilot program the agency has proposed to promote telemedicine services. The program would support a limited number of projects to help "defray" the broadband costs of bringing telemedicine to low-income Americans and veterans.

    "That's the single biggest barrier," Lennox-Miller said of the dearth of high-speed internet in rural areas.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Racial disparity hospital
    Providers confront racial bias engrained in EHRs
    Most Popular
    1
    CMS tries luring providers to revamped Medicare ACOs
    2
    Oregon joins other states in setting ratios for nurse staffing
    3
    Blue Shield CA taps Amazon, Mark Cuban, CVS for new PBM model
    4
    A health innovation hub grows in Lake Nona Medical City
    5
    Hospital-at-home providers push for Medicaid coverage
    Sponsored Content
    Digital Health Intelligence Newsletter: Sign up to receive a twice-weekly (T, F) morning newsletter featuring the latest reporting on technologies, trends, players and money fueling the rapid changes in how healthcare is developed, paid for and delivered.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Help Center
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Blogs
      • AI
      • Deals
      • Layoff Tracker
      • HIMSS 2023
    • Opinion
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - AI and Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
      • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
    • Data & Insights
      • Data & Insights Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing