Content about Telemedicine

TreatMyUTI.com is an online service founded by a group of physicians that offers online access to physician diagnosis and treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections with no office visit, exam or lab test required.
 

Rite Aid announced Friday that it had expanded its "virtual clinic" model to additional markets, now offering NowClinic Online Care service in 58 stores.

Retail clinics are an area in which Rite Aid has not invested to the same degree as Walgreens and CVS, but NowClinic shows that there are more ways to offer clinical services in a retail pharmacy setting than building an extra clinic. In 2011, Rite Aid became the first to provide such virtual clinics in a retail pharmacy setting when it launched the program as a pilot in nine stores in Detroit.

Widespread reliance on telemedicine to electronically deliver health and pharmacy services to hard-to-reach patients in remote locations is getting closer to reality. And in a fast-evolving health care system struggling to improve access to health services at a lower overall cost, that’s a good thing.

The potential breakthrough for remote-site dispensing and health counseling came in the U.S. House of Representatives. California Democrat Mike Thompson is sponsoring legislation that would eliminate barriers to telemedicine services for all federal health programs.

WASHINGTON — The American Telemedicine Association, the leading nonprofit membership organization for remote medical services, is working with three minority legislative caucuses to educate lawmakers and introduce model legislation for telehealth in statehouses around the country. ATA has formed partnerships with the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL), the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) and the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) with the goal of maximizing state-government support of telemedicine.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — It was a busy week for telemedicine-based news, particularly if you count health kiosks — DSN sure does.

(THE NEWS: Take Care Health Systems develops telehealth offering for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. For the full story, click here.)

There are two issues concerning the business of diabetes monitoring that are playing out right now, one a little more immediate. 


As soon as 2013, when Medicare’s competitive bidding of durable medical equipment — which includes diabetes testing supplies — as it relates to mail order goes into effect, many pharmacies may be precluded from delivering diabetes test supplies to their patients. Currently 45% of community pharmacies deliver diabetes supplies to assisted living facilities, according to the National Community 
Pharmacists Association. 


HORSHAM, Pa. — NextGen Healthcare Information Systems on Wednesday announced a telemedicine agreement with Nipro Diagnostics that would enable users of the company's NextGen Ambulatory EHR instant access to data points captured by patients at home who are using the Nipro TrueResult blood-glucose monitoring system. 

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Two speakers at the American Telemedicine Association’s annual meeting last week had positive words for the convenient care industry and essentially told attendees what Drug Store News has been saying for some time: Retail clinics are poised for significant growth.

(THE NEWS: Retail clinics positioned for dramatic growth. For the full story, click here.)

According to the American Diabetes Association’s latest figures, 79 million Americans have prediabetes, but only 1-out-of-10 knows it. That suggests a terrific upside in the market of diabetes-testing supplies and diabetes-supportive products as more of those Americans become aware of their condition.