NAHC, Home Care Providers Offer Members of Congress Telehealth Demonstrations

Clockwise from right: Anna Doyle, RN, of THA Group; Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA); NAHC President Val J. Halamandaris and HCTAA Executive Director Richard Brennan

Rep. Kingston and NAHC President Val J. Halamandaris Discuss the Challenges Home Care Providers Face in Adopting Health IT

From Left: Legislative Director Hill Thomas looks on as Rep. John Barrow (D-GA) gets to experience a remote patient monitoring machine firsthand by Anna Doyle, RN of THA Group

Clockwise from left: Rep. Barrow (D-GA); his Legislative Director Hill Thomas; Anna Doyle, RN of THA Group; HCTAA Executive Director Richard Brennan; Pat Laff of Laff Associates and NAHC Vice President of Government Relations Jeff Kincheloe.

The National Association of Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), and its affiliate the Home Care Technology Association of America (HCTAA) recently worked with several home care providers to demonstrate to Members of Congress the value, promise and potential that telehealth holds for those who need home healthcare.

Representatives from NAHC and HCTAA were joined by Pat Laff, Managing Principal at Laff Associates in Hilton Head, SC; and Anna Doyle, RN, Patient Advocate & Telehealth Specialist with THA Group in Savannah, GA. The group provided comprehensive telehealth demonstrations to several members of the Georgia and South Carolina Congressional delegations. The meetings were set up, and the technology was brought, by representatives from THA Group.

“The opportunity to demonstrate innovative uses of remote patient monitoring and the role of the telehealth nurse in the delivery of home care to Members of Congress has tremendous value,” said Richard D. Brennan, Jr., MA, Executive Director of HCTAA.  “Home care providers need to take every opportunity to educate their Members of Congress on the efficiencies and cost savings obtained from technology adoption and also implore Congress to reimburse home health care providers for the use of technology in Medicare.”

The Members of Congress who received telehealth demonstrations were Representatives John Barrow (D-GA), Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Mark Sanford (R-SC). Each member had the opportunity to be connected to a remote patient monitoring device while Ms. Doyle asked them questions and walked them through their vital signs – just as would happen when the machines are used with home health patients.

Among the vital statistics the remote patient monitoring system collected were the congressman’s weight and blood pressure. “Unfortunately, the machine doesn’t lie,” joked Congressman Barrow.

During the visit with Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA), NAHC President Val J. Halamandaris joined the group and stressed the benefits and cost-saving potential that remote patient monitoring has for home healthcare beneficiaries. “Once you see how this technology works, we hope you will become an advocate of it,” said Mr. Halamandaris. “There’s a real premium in keeping people out of the hospitals, which these devices help to do.”

The telehealth demonstrations not only gave key lawmakers insight into the benefits that remote patient monitoring has on home healthcare, but it also offered NAHC and HCTAA officials the opportunity to educate Members of Congress on key issues affecting health information technology within home care.

One piece of legislation, the FITT Act, was specifically highlighted, as the sort of technology that was displayed during the visits would become more readily available to home healthcare providers were it to become law.

The FITT Act was introduced in the Senate by Senator John Thune earlier this year, and a House version will likely be introduced in the coming weeks.

For more information on the FITT Act, and to encourage your lawmakers to support it, please click here.

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