As more health systems move to offer telemedicine, Mercy Virtual continues to lead the way at the national level. Washington, D.C.-based health policy reporter Paige Winfield Cunningham recently visited Mercy Virtual Care Center for a two-part series in The Washington Post focusing on payments for telemedicine services.
Her series focuses on challenges Mercy Virtual and others face in light of changing health care policy. For example, under a long-standing restriction in federal law, Medicare only pays for telehealth services when they’re provided in rural settings (where there are often doctor shortages). Regardless, Mercy Virtual provides care to patients across Mercy’s four states in rural and urban hospitals alike, “…because it’s the right thing to do for our patients,” said Maureen Kozlowski, director of support services for Mercy Virtual.
Cunningham wrote: “Hospital networks including Mercy in the St. Louis area and Providence St. Joseph Health along the West Coast are leading the way with remote patient monitoring and consultations as a way to overcome physician shortages and deliver more immediate, specialized care.”
The series was picked up by other publications across the country.
Media Coverage
The Health 202: Hospitals lean into virtual health care even as Medicare won't cover it
- The Washington Post (subscription required)
- SFGate
- The Daily Republic
The Health 202: Why Congress isn't expanding virtual health care
- The Washington Post (subscription required)
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- New Haven Register
- The Alton Telegraph
- SFGate
