Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Medical Assistance Services
 
Board
Board of Medical Assistance Services
 
Guidance Document Change: To update the Agency’s policies regarding both telemedicine and telehealth coverage.
Previous Comment     Next Comment     Back to List of Comments
9/13/19  8:19 pm
Commenter: Valerie Neal Nurse Practitioner/Owner Integrative Healthcare LLC.

Telemental Healthcare
 

As a family and psychiatric nurse practitioner, the goal of my company is to provide psychiatric care to clients across the state of Virginia via telehealth technologies such as smart phone or computer. Providing timely psychiatric care to clients is key to reducing repeat hospitalizations. Clients need to be seen at least two weeks or less after an acute hospitalization. Most often clients are discharged and are unable to get appointments for one month or more. In addition clients are often unable to access care due to their proximity from most of the state's providers. I agreed to provide psychiatric care to a client who was unable to find follow up care after an acute hospitalization only to find the client had medical issues which prevented him  from driving to my office which is 55 miles from his home. This situation would not be problematic and can be addressed by fully reimbursable telehealth care which can be provided by a provider to a client in the comfort of their home.

CommentID: 76165