State policies, size influence hospital telehealth adoption

A study published this month in Health Affairs examines the factors influencing adoption of telehealth (likely telemedicine/remote consults, though it’s difficult to tell from context). While 42 percent of US hospitals have telehealth capabilities, positive influences are inclusion in a hospital system, teaching hospital status, non-profit status and importantly, whether state regulations promote private payer reimbursement. Another apparent positive in adoption is small population and few hospitals: Alaska (71 percent), Arkansas (71 percent), South Dakota (70 percent), and Maine (69 percent). A major negative factor: restrictive licensure of out-of-state providers that prevent multi-state practice.  Authored by the busy Dr. Joseph Kvedar of the Center for Connected Health, Julia Adler-Milstein of the University of Michigan and David W. Bates of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. HA abstract (full text is paywalled), FierceHealthIT  Earlier this week in TTA: Ohio telehealth bill passed in Senate