The Medical Society of Delaware through its subsidiary “Health Hub,” has partnered with MEND VIP, Inc. (MEND) to offer telemedicine and patient engagement platform to all MSD members.
The technology will help physicians and their care teams to improve remote access to their patients in a secure and HIPAA compliant platform.
“Telemedicine has allowed for high-quality care of patients who have some difficulty getting into the office. It allows them to get good quality care rather than falling back to poor quality care because the patient needs something urgently and can’t get into the office,” said James Gill, MD of Family Medicine at Greenhill. “I have patients who live more than an hour away and coming into the office for a medicine refill check-up can be challenging, but patients need to be seen. Telemedicine makes this easier on the patient,” said Gill who has been using MEND for the last year.
According to Health Hub board member Patt Panzer, MD, “the MEND telemedicine platform provides a potential solution for primary care, as well as specialty practices, currently attempting to stay ahead of the curve in the world of healthcare practice transformation, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) and changing payment structures. Integration of telemedicine into clinical practice, rather than the alternative model of telemedicine visits via a separate provider who does not know the patient, allows for continuity of care with improved patient access, outcomes and satisfaction.”
Stephanie Napier, a lifetime patient of Family Medicine at Greenhill says, “My youngest daughter is autistic and telemedicine is great for her. She doesn’t like the office, but telemedicine is much calmer and much better for her. When my daughter had a bad cold, we used telemedicine and our doctor looked at her, checked her color, and listened to her the cough. I felt like I was in an appointment in the office, but it was through the smartphone and it wasn’t rushed and my insurance covers it.”
The Medical Society of Delaware pushed for the passage of HB 69, otherwise known as the “telemedicine expansion bill.” HB 69 is one of the strongest patient safety and payment parity laws in the country, mandating full commercial insurance reimbursement for services rendered through telemedicine. According to Dr. Gill, telemedicine is particularly useful for his Medicaid patients. “Medicaid is great because it pays for telemedicine and those are the people who can least afford the time and travel for a traditional office visit and who have the most need for it.”
