NASCO Helps Plans Meet Surge Of TeleHealth Usage By Enabling Rapid Deployment
Before the pandemic, the utilization of telehealth services grew at a moderate rate. But as pandemic lockdowns began, telehealth experienced explosive growth, with the CDC reporting a 154 percent increase in telehealth visits during the last week of March 2020 in contrast to the same week in March 2019. How were payers and providers able to adapt quickly to this now pervasive model of care?
Making a quick pivot, health plans had to accommodate new places of service, waive cost-share and prior authorization requirements as well as office evaluation management services based on certain diagnoses.
For BeneFACTSM-enabled health plans, this transition was frictionless. NASCO’s Benefits Solutions team coded new logic within a few days and quickly created multiple benefit product offerings across a variety of complex benefit scenarios to support operational enablement and increase access to care for patients. For Blue payers using a different set of benefits management products, the effort had multiple-week timelines to completion.
The demand for telemedicine and virtual care services, especially for behavioral health services, continues to grow. From telehealth to digitally enabled care, if you need help addressing the expansion of services to accommodate renewals, contact Donna Christian, NASCO’s Director of Benefits Solutions, to help you meet your goals quickly and effectively.
