research

Summary

The Affordable Care Act has dramatically expanded coverage to people who were previously uninsured or underinsured. However, health insurers must now meet the needs of these newly-covered individuals and families, including assuring access to specialty care. One strategy that insurers—including ACAP-member Safety Net Health Plans (SNHP)—have employed is the use of telemedicine. Telemedicine can help expand access to needed care, facilitate better care coordination and help contain costs.

This fact sheet profiles the efforts of five SNHPs to deploy telemedicine to meet the needs of a growing member base. These initiatives cover a wide range of services and approaches, including increasing access to child psychiatry, connecting members in rural counties to specialists, using electronic referrals to enhance communication between providers, and leveraging telemedicine to better integrate physical and mental health.

View the full fact sheet here »