Regional Telehealth Resource Center

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

Kentucky Telecare at the University of Kentucky (UK) is excited to be a part of the HRSA Regional Telehealth Resource Center Grant with the University of Virginia. Kentucky Telecare has been an active Telehealth program since 1995, and we believe that our participation will contribute in several ways to the mission of the project to help Telehealth programs in the Mid-Atlantic Region and beyond. Kentucky was an early leader in the passage of Telehealth legislation that helped legitimize Telehealth in the state .. Prior to 2000, Kentucky's Medicaid program would not recognize Telehealth as a reimbursable service and so providers were not compensated for seeing patients via the technology.. Commercial health insurance providers followed Medicaid's lead and also did not reimburse for Telehealth encounters Kentucky Telecare pressed for legislation in the 2000 legislative session that mandated Medicaid and commercial health insurance reimbursement for Telehealth, creation of a statewide Telehealth initiative with governing Board of Directors and the development of 4 regional Telehealth Training Centers to promote the Telehealth within the state .. The legislation passed in 2000 and was enacted that year .. The new Kentucky TeleHealth Network now includes over 250 sites, including all three medical schools, hospitals, clinics, public health departments, school clinics, state psychiatric hospitals, state health agencies and community mental health centers Another area that Kentucky's experience could be helpful to other programs is the use of Telehealth technology in an industrial workplace. Many Telehealth programs pursue contract work with self-insured organizations to avoid the reimbursement limitations inherent with traditional Medicare/Medicaid/Commercial Health Insurance providers.. Self-insured companies are able to leverage Telehealth for the benefit of employees and prisons are able to contract for Telehealth services outside traditional insurance.. Kentucky Telecare has helped a large coal company utilize Telehealth at coal mines and corporate offices in six states connect to a centrally located medical director.. UK also has a long-standing contract with the Federal Prison System to provide clinical services via Telehealth. Both of these areas of expertise should be helpful to other programs as they face the challenges of reimbursement and of developing sustainable activities that will help their program achieve long-term financial success.. Kentucky Telecare looks forward to becoming a partner in this multi-state resource center, imparting our experience on others and gaining knowledge from those who have done their own pioneering work.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date9/1/128/31/13

Funding

  • University of Virginia: $11,920.00

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