Marion clinic preparing for telemedicine

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Hillsboro physician Michael Reeh is now offering visits by telephone for established patients only.

“It used to be that a telemedicine visit was on the computer,” Reeh said.

Rules have changed and now telemedicine consultations can take place by phone, he said.

He also can visit patients using Facetime.

“For routine things, I can do it over the phone,” Reeh said. “I can’t do a telemedicine visit for a new patient. I have to know them.”

Home visits for Medicare patients are also available through his office. He has long offered home visits for patients who are homebound, but a change in Medicare rules now makes home visits available for more patients.

Generally, these are for Medicare patients, Reeh said. Medicare has changed their rules. Physicians used to have to justify that the patient was homebound. Reeh said he’s not sure about other insurance companies.

St. Luke Clinic is in the process of preparing to offer telemedicine to patients.

“We have reached out to our electronic medical record vendor and are in their queue to be set up with them for telemedicine,” St. Luke CEO Jeremy Ensey said. “We are set up to use doxy.me. A link will also be on our website. The patient needs either Google Chrome or Firefox web browser to access it.”

Clinic patients should call the clinic to request a telemedicine visit. Telemedicine patients do not need to be established.

Hospital therapy patients have be established for telephone visits.

“Therapy is also able to follow up with a phone call, as the current waiver allows this,” Ensey said.

The clinic has experienced issues with reimbursement for telemedicine visits, he said. Medicare waived reimbursement requirements for clinics, but not for Rural Health Clinics such as St. Luke Clinic.

Hillsboro Community Hospital CEO Mark Rooker could not be reached for comment.