The global pandemic of Covid -19 has inserted itself into our everyday life. Providers are working around the clock to care for those who have been exposed, as well as those exhibiting symptoms. This is enough work to keep everyone occupied day and night, however normal everyday visits for other illness and ailments have not gone away. We understand the need to continue to see these patients, and how instrumental Telehealth will be now and over the coming weeks as the corona pandemic continues. We have compiled from various sources some links that should help answer questions regarding reimbursement for the Telehealth visits your providers might be experiencing currently. We will update this page as more information continues to flow in. 

We understand the rare circumstances in which providers are currently in. Providing care to patients during these challenging times must continue, and we hope this information will help you feel more confident in providing services via Telehealth for those you look after. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need help.

Medicare Telemedicine Health Care Provider Fact Sheet


Medicare Telehealth Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 
Telehealth Technologies as an Alternative to Patient Office Visits in the Wake of Covid-19


CPT - Reporting of Covid-19 Testing


Summary of Telemedicine Coding - CMS


Summary of Telemed Chart


CDC Dedicated Covid-19 Webpage

Here's the number one question I have been fielding this week: "Are we overreacting to COVID-19?"

My response is this: "Is this the BEST question that positions you to be part of the solution?"

The REAL question on most peoples' minds today is this: "What is the health risk COVID-19 poses to myself, my family and the people around me?"

As of today, March 20th, it appears that simple public health and personal hygiene measures work.  They minimize the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 and protect the most vulnerable among us like your aging parents or your friend being treated for breast cancer or your neighbor who has gotten a heart transplant.

If you made a list of the top 10 health threats with the greatest probability of taking your life in the next year, COVID-19 would not even be on the list. As the time of the writing, about 3,400 people in Italy lost their lives to infection from COVID-19. Compare that to the 647,000 Americans who lost their life to heart disease last year or the 47,000 US deaths from suicide.

The measures to "flatten the COVID-19 curve" --shutting down restaurants, bars, gyms, hair salons, etc-- are dramatic. They have know and certain untoward economic consequences.  

Are these aggressive public health measures justified?  

Public health official creating policy to care for entire populations ask different questions than doctors caring for individual patients. The best way to screen an individual patient for cancer, for example, may be different than the best way to screen the entire population.   

Further, we as individuals do things like vaccinate our children and refrain from texting while driving to keep the community safe and healthy.  

The limited data suggests that aggressive public health measure work. Life is returning to normal in China. 

Further, the failure to implement aggressive public health measure will have political, health and economic consequences. 

The truth is that our reality is what it is. We ARE working from home. We're not going to be able to exercise at the gym or get haircuts or relax at a bar for a few weeks.  (I was supposed to get a haircut today, and it was cancelled because the salon is closed. When I asked my hairdresser what I should do about my overdue haircut, she said, "Watch a Youtube video about cutting our own hair." Yikes!)

Let's refrain from Monday-morning quarterbacking. Instead, let's focus our thoughts and efforts on activities that allow us to become part of the solution. We can all make a positive impact right now.

Creating solutions begins with asking the best questions.

Thank you for your hard work!  Stay healthy and strong.
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My best,
Dr. Vicki

PS  Would you like some tips about how to launch Social-Distance Marketing campaigns?   Join us Sunday March 22nd, 2020 at Noon Eastern for a The Social-Distance Marketing Primer  

In addition to the weekly COVID-19 update, you'll take away:

• Concrete ideas about how to deliver value to your existing clients TODAY
• Ways to build relationships with prospects TODAY and TOMORROW
• Tips about your technology toolbox for connecting with people remotely.

You'll learn how to connect with prospects, clients and power partners from your home office.

Click here to register, even if you cannot attend.  Everyone who signs up with get a replay link.  

By Vicki Rackner, MD, FACS

I remember speaking with my patient Jean.  She had undergone a long and protracted treatment course for breast cancer--a bi-lateral mastectomy followed by a bone marrow transplant. We were celebrating five years later.  She was cancer-free!

I asked her, "Jean, what was the hardest part about getting breast cancer?"

Without thinking, she blurted out, "The waiting.  Waiting for the pathology report.  Waiting for the labs.  Waiting for the MRI. I can deal with just about anything.  I just need to KNOW what I'm dealing with."

You may face times of threatened financial health. Divorce. Losses from Dumb Doctor Deal gone south. The need to care for aging parents.  This can lead to financial stress.  

However, some physicians become immobilized by their worries. They are afraid to see where they really stand. They may leave their Fidelity envelopes unopened.

The true cause of money anxiety is the NOT KNOWING. Worried individuals often imagine a financial situation that's far worse than the reality.

While financial stress can inspire you to reach out for help, financial anxiety can pose a barrier to taking the next step. Worried doctors may put off seeking professional financial help because they're afraid of what they will discover.  Instead, they stay up at night worrying, "I'll never be able to retire!  What will it be like taking call when I'm 70?"

As you well know, things are usually better than anxious people fear.

If you're immobilized by financial anxiety, you're not alone; however, it's wise to never worry alone.  Reach out.  Look at the monster under the bed.  Things are usually better than feared.

Once you gain clarity about where you stand, you can create a financial treatment plan to optimize your financial health.  

Then you can create a financial treatment plan and celebrate as you enjoy restored financial health.

by Vicki Rackner, MD, FACS
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I was awakened at 3 AM by a call from the ER.  Nothing too surprising!  This is a regular occurrence in the life of a surgeon. 

The caller, however, surprised me by saying, “Hi, Honey.  It’s Mom.  I’m in the emergency room and the doctors tell me I need my gallbladder out.  Will you fly out and do the operation?”

The right answer is, of course, “No.”  But why? 

It’s because when we doctors treat people we love, emotions can cloud our clinical judgment and compromise the medical outcome.


When the stakes are high, we want to make logical considered choices based on the best information available.  This is true whether you’re helping patients optimize their health, or you’re building wealth.


Is this how people REALLY make choices?


In the book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sustein assert that real life decision-making is flawed in  predictable and systematic ways.


This may explain why only about half of patients take medication as prescribed.


This may also explain why only about half of physicians report they are on track to retire.


Nudge author Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics in recognition of his contributions to behavioral economics.  This field explores how psychological biases cause people to act in ways that diverge from pure rational self-interest. 


Here are a few predictable errors that erode financial health:
    •    Loss aversion  We will take greater risks to avoid loss than to experience gains.  That means investors take risks at the time they should be erring on the side of safety.
    •    Over and under reactions  Investors tend to behave with optimism when the market goes up, and become much more pessimistic when the market goes down.
    •    Over confidence  Investors tend to overestimate their ability to beat the market, and underestimate investing challenges.
    •    Relativity Investors see the world through the eyes of relative experience.  Imagine how you would feel if someone gave you a gift card.  Now imagine how you would respond if someone gave you two gift cards and took one back.  You have the identical outcome is each case, but it feels much different.


While this is not a formal part of behavioral economics, I observe two other investing mistakes that physicians and dentists make. First, many burned-out physicians use spending as a stress management tool. Second, many physicians are basing their choices on the wrong information.  


Here are some steps you can take to avoid the bad decisions that can unwittingly undermine your efforts to achieve financial freedom:

• Recognize the you are subject to psychological, social, cognitive, and emotional factors that may lead you to poor investing decisions.
• Identify investing errors you have made in the past.  
• Explore the circumstances that made you more vulnerable to investing mistakes.  
• Create systems to protect yourself from investing errors.  If you are dieting, you would clear unhealthy food from the house.  Maybe you decide that you will check with someone before making  purchases above a certain dollar amount.
• Ask yourself, “Am I spending as a way to manage stress?” Could you think of other healthier options?
• Ask yourself, “Am I paying attention to the right information?” For example, I recently came to understand the critical impact of taxes on wealth-building.

The most important piece of advice?  Bring the principles that work well in the world of medicine into the world of finance. While I did not remove my mother’s gallbladder, I helped select the surgeon with the experience, skill and judgement to optimize the chances of getting a great outcome. I also wanted someone who would listen to my mother and be sensitive to the things that were important to her.


Please allow me to suggest that you want to have in your corner a seasoned expert who can help you assess your financial health, remain divorced from emotion and focus on the things that matter when it comes to diagnostic and therapeutic  interventions with your money.  
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