NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2020 - 11

NHPCO, in collaboration with the National Coalition for
Hospice and Palliative Care, hosted a free webinar for the
provider community on April 27, 2020. The idea for this
webinar, COVID-19 Discussion on Effective Virtual Visits,
emerged during a coalition quality work group call where
the issue of quality virtual visits was first raised by
representatives of the National Coalition.
In welcoming the national
audience, National Coalition
President and CEO Amy Melnick
said, "It has been extraordinary to
see how hospice and palliative
care providers have responded to
the COVID-19 epidemic with
creativity, innovation, and of
course compassion, which is the
hallmark of the profession."
Melnick continued, "For some on
our faculty, they've been doing
these types of visits using audio
and video technology for years
and have excellent outcomes and
have wondered why the rest of
the world has not provided care in
this way, but for others, COVID-19
has presented a situation where
providing care in this way is a
necessary option due to safety
and it's becoming more normal,
so to speak."

Introduction
Coronavirus (COVID-19) has
thrust us into some unchartered
waters and has also allowed for
some new opportunities.
Opportunities to do remote visits
for our patients and their
families, protect them, protect
health workers, and protect our
limited supply of PPE.

There is a new opportunity in
hospice and community-based
palliative care to use telehealth for
the face-to-face visit and for visits
by the interdisciplinary team.
Telehealth has always been
available but now can be done on a
more widespread basis than ever
before. Also, this is a great
opportunity to use telehealth for
advance care planning and POLST
completion, especially for the
vulnerable seriously ill population.
NHPCO encourages providers to
think about the long-term uses of
telehealth as well as the shortterm opportunity. It is also
important to think about HIPAA
compliant platforms if you are
considering a possible expansion
of telehealth for long-term use
with your patient population.
Telephonic visits for billable
providers are now reimbursable,
which before they were not. While
there has been expansion of
waivers and relaxation of
regulations at the federal level
due to the COVID-19 crisis, you
still need to be mindful your state
regulations. NHPCO stresses the
importance of making sure that
you follow the most stringent
rules, regulations and laws.

Definitions	
There are many definitions and
providers will hear a lot of terms
like synchronous versus
asynchronous, audio versus
audio-visual, remote patient
monitoring, digital health, and
telemonitoring. Here are two
definitions to remember:
❚ TELEHEALTH is a broader term
used for the provision of health
care remotely, whether you are
using the simplest form, a
telephone, smartphones, mobile
wireless devices, with or without
a video connection. Telehealth
includes both clinical and
nonclinical interactions.
❚ TELEMEDICINE is a term,
specific to clinical visits with
video/visual connections.

Webinar participants were
asked about their practice.
QUESTION: Are you utilizing
telehealth?
ANSWER: 53% yes in hospice care
only. 36% yes in both hospice and
palliative care. And 7% no.
QUESTION: What is the biggest
barrier you are experiencing or
that you perceive in providing tele
health?
ANSWER: 26% support in the
home. 14% functional ability. 13%
connectivity. 10% equipment.

Newsline / Summer 2020

11
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2020
