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| Younger adults' hunger for convenience might not translate to high telemedicine usage |
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| Nearly three-quarters (71%) of US adults say they’d be willing to use telehealth post-pandemic, according to a new HIMSS poll — and the researchers involved in the survey posit that young consumers’ desire for convenience will drive continued adoption post-pandemic. But thus far, older adults have disproportionately used virtual care; 36% percent of adults 55 and up had tried telemedicine as of August, compared with only 9% of 18–24 year-olds. |
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| The government is helping keep virtual care around for the long haul |
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| In response to a recent surge of coronavirus cases, the CMS launched its Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative to combat shrinking hospital capacities and overburdened clinical staff – the latest step in the CMS knocking down barriers to telehealth and clearing the way for expanded use of digital health amid the pandemic. |
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| Google Cloud makes it easier for healthcare entities to comply with the HHS’ April data-sharing deadlines |
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| Google’s cloud arm lifted the curtain on its Healthcare Interoperability Readiness Program that helps healthcare organizations devise a plan to standardize and integrate their data in compliance with the HHS’ mandates by April 2021. Payers and providers are struggling to comply with the looming interoperability mandates — which means quick and easy-to-deploy solutions like Google Cloud’s will become need-to-have. |
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| Digital therapy makers are riding the digital health wave through 2021 |
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| Lark Health partnered with Highmark – the 4th largest BCBS–affiliated organization — to give Highmark members 24/7 access to Lark Health’s digital therapeutics (DTx) programs for hypertension and diabetes. Pharma cos have been strategically pouring cash into DTx firms to capture a slice of the growing DTx market. |
