An Analysis of the Home Health Marketplace: How Telehealth Technology May Assist Home Health Agencies with Changes in Home Care Delivery under the Prospective Payment System
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online February, 2001
An Analysis of the Home Health Marketplace: How Telehealth Technology May Assist Home Health Agencies with Changes in Home Care Delivery under the Prospective Payment System
Sweeping changes in Medicare policy may have removed the last significant obstacle to the widespread implementation of telehealth. On October 1, 2000, the Health Care Finance Administration (HCFA) implemented the Prospective Payment System (PPS), a reimbursement system based on the average cost of Medicare patient care for 60 days. The HCFA has since clarified that home care organizations may utilize telehealth technology in addition to home visits. This change in reimbursement policy is a necessary development, designed to provide reasonable controls on government spending while opening new opportunities to utilize more cost-efficient processes and technologies.
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