Consulting Telehealth Services: Seek Medical Guidance Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
The world of healthcare is evolving, and telemedicine is at the forefront of this transformation. In Poland, the Doctor Center platform is leading the charge, offering a comprehensive service for medical facilities that includes chat, phone, and video consultations, e-prescriptions, e-referrals, and e-releases.
All medical specializations, including primary care physicians, physiotherapists, and dentists, are showing interest in implementing telemedicine services. The Doctor Center platform is suitable for these specialists, providing a tool for patients to view referrals, medical history, exemptions, and prescriptions, ensuring the safety of telemedicine by focusing on modern solutions that meet GDPR guidelines.
Telemedicine services are becoming increasingly popular due to their convenience, speed, and practicality. They allow patients to receive healthcare services without leaving home, which is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Doctor Center platform offers high-quality services with efficient servers to prevent interruptions during consultations.
The National Health Fund (NFZ) has recently started reimbursing telemedicine services, providing a significant boost to the industry. For primary care physicians, including general practitioners, family doctors, internal medicine specialists, and pediatricians, telemedicine visits are typically reimbursed at rates comparable to in-person visits, a concept known as payment parity.
Physiotherapists are also included among the licensed providers credentialed for telemedicine services. Reimbursement usually covers teletherapy sessions, although payment rates might differ based on the components of the rate or relative value units. Dentists can also offer telemedicine and be reimbursed under certain plans, although dental telemedicine is generally less common and might be more limited in scope.
Other factors influencing reimbursement include geographical restrictions and the originating site, modality, and fee schedule and coding updates. For certain public programs, telemedicine reimbursement requires the patient to be in a rural area or specific sites unless exceptions are met, which may also apply to some NFZ policies. Reimbursement typically requires the use of interactive two-way audio-video technology, but some programs are beginning to allow audio-only telemedicine in limited cases.
The NFZ reimbursement models support telemedicine services for various specialties, including primary care doctors, internists, pediatricians, family doctors, physiotherapists, and dentists, mostly on par with in-person visits, subject to licensing, network participation, modality, and location requirements.
The telemedicine platform Doctor Center is beneficial for clinics during uncertain times, helping maintain work continuity and earn funds during periods of low patient volume. It also enables night and holiday healthcare consultations, in line with the recommendations of the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate and the National Health Fund.
The use of non-compliant messaging apps for telemedicine consultations can expose doctors and clinics to potential problems and fines. Therefore, it is crucial to use platforms like Doctor Center that meet the necessary regulations and guidelines.
Initially, there were doubts about the feasibility of remote consultations, but they have proven to be effective and practical. Telemedicine services are not just a solution for the future, but they are already making a significant impact on the healthcare sector today.
[1] Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2020). Telehealth Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.cms.gov/files/document/telehealth-fact-sheet.pdf [2] American Physical Therapy Association. (2020). Telehealth. Retrieved from https://www.apta.org/practice/telehealth/ [3] American Dental Association. (2020). Teledentistry. Retrieved from https://www.ada.org/en/member-center/oral-health-topics/telehealth-teledentistry [4] National Health Fund. (2020). Telemedicine. Retrieved from https://www.nfz.gov.pl/zdrowie/zdrowie-w-domu/telemedycyna [5] Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. (2020). Telehealth. Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/topic/telehealth
Science plays a crucial role in the advancement of telemedicine, helping to address medical-conditions and promote health-and-wellness. The Doctor Center platform, for instance, leverages modern technology to provide comprehensive telemedicine services, ensuring patient safety amidst GDPR guidelines.
With telemedicine visits now being reimbursed by the National Health Fund (NFZ) and payment parity established for primary care physicians and certain specialists, there's growing momentum to further integrate science and telemedicine for the betterment of healthcare and wellness.
