The positive side of telemedicine for two areas–Long Term Care (LTCF). Skilled Nursing (SNF). Two types of care facilities that don’t get a lot of excited cocktail party chatter or much respect in the health tech field. Yet the needs are there, the tech attention has returned, and apparently the money has as well.

A major provider of behavioral health services for LTCF, Deer Oaks, is turning to telemedicine (SnapMD) to expand their reach. Already working with 1,400 LTCFs in 27 states in the central to southern US, Deer Oaks has been active since 1992 in providing both psychiatric and psychological services for geriatric and disabled patients.

The problem is coverage and the lack of providers. Psychiatry is itself aging out with few young doctors in the field–as well as the uneven distribution of practitioners. Mental health is a significant concern in the older adult population, including those dealing with depression and dementia.

Deer Oaks is adding telemedicine to expand to facilities in smaller, in rural areas, to extend hours, and to reach people with limited mobility. Facilities receive equipment and training. Two significant challenges they found were the lack of tech expertise in the staff, and importantly, the reliability of Wi-Fi in those areas, which is needed at 500 kbs of bandwidth to work. This expansion fits with CMS’ extension of covered telemedicine in rural areas and FCC’s continuing Connected Care Pilot Program, San Antonio-based Deer Oaks is estimated to have over $18 million in revenue (CrunchBase) and sees their growth in this area, according to an interview in mHealth Intelligence.

Assessing developing conditions in a SNF or LTC patient and preventing readmissions will always get this Editor’s attention, as she started in the field with behavioral telemonitoring for this area.

• Real Time Medical Systems raised at end of February $9.2 million from SunBridge Capital Management to fund the growth of their analytics software which uses EMR information plus information from clinicians in routine monitoring of resident status to alert for early changes in resident conditions. Appropriate intervention could prevent hospitalization or a more serious development. Real Time currently has 500 SNFs and 30 hospitals, for a total of about 60,000 covered residents.
• Skilled Nursing News also notes that Call9, an emergency medicine provider that embeds first responders at SNFs to provide onsite care and reduce unnecessary transfers to ERs, has raised a stunning $34 million and is concentrating on both SNF and assisted living. It is connected with several major payers and Medicare Advantage plans.
• More conservatively, Third Eye Health, which provides post-acute emergency telemedicine to 220 SNFs, recently raised $7 million. All these companies have claimed readmission reductions of 40 to as high as 70 percent, and savings from services such as these may be billions.

None of which gets buzzy panels at HIMSS, Health 2.0, or CES, or viral videos on the news as the plight of Mr. Quintana did [TTA 13 Mar, below] but provides a badly needed advance in care services–and savings–for LTCs/SNFs and badly needed and better care for their patient residents.