Search

Online digital encounter, payer-negotiated price, telemedicine, telephone encounter, virtual check-in, price transparency Keywords: online digital encounter; payer-negotiated price; price transparency; telemedicine; telephone encounter; virtual check-in EN online digital encounter payer-negotiated price price transparency telemedicine telephone encounter virtual check-in 3495 3497 3 10/12/22 20221001 NES 221001 INTRODUCTION Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers broadened eligibility for telemedicine.[1] Correspondingly, hospitals expanded telemedicine availability, and utilization is expected to persist.[2] While attention has been paid to statutory Medicare payment rates for telemedicine services, less is known about private payer prices negotiated with healthcare delivery organizations. We restricted analysis to each state's top-ranking hospital disclosing telemedicine pricing given their anticipated resources to comply with price disclosure requirements and offer telemedicine services, as well as in-state requirements to deliver telemedicine. [Extracted from the article]

On March 27, 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions.[1] Under the CARES Act, private insurers are required to cover in vitro diagnostic testing for COVID-19 without patient cost sharing or other barriers during the public health emergency. For hospitals that disclosed both cash prices and hospital charges, we estimated the corresponding out-of-network bill balance (defined as the difference between hospital charge minus the cash price) for each type of test offered. [Extracted from the article]