Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Financial Incentives

I am curious to learn if there are anywhere in the world better financial models of practicing teledermatology. Let's be clear - even in the store & forward modality, it is hard work and requires time and energy. However, there are no good reimbursement models in the US.

Any thoughts?

Chris

5 comments:

Dr. Shahbaz A.Janjua said...

Welcome Chris and thank you for joining and raising this importanrt question. In my opinion, the road is rough and unmarked and still there is a long way to go because its always difficult to be a pioneer. As far as financial reimbursement is concerned, it is not the goal of modern telededermatology. Also I do not see any good financial reimbursement models in the near future. Greetings from Pakistan. Shahbaz

Karen said...

I have just returned from the American Telemedicine Association meeting - they are working on promoting reimbursement for S-F telederm and it is progressing on several fronts. California now has several private insurers as well as Medicaid reimbursement - it has been lead by Dr. Marc Goldyne, a private practitioner who lobbied the state government very effectively. The dermatology special interest group of the ATA is now going to work on outreach to try and promote extension of these efforts. It is doable, but will require work with insurers and politicians to allow reimbursement for government funded programs. Go to the ATA website for further info.

Dr Ian McColl said...

We are working along the same lines in Australia which has a much smaller rural population scattered across a wider area.The local doctors have to pressure their politicions to secure a financial rebate for the service. We are organising courses to improve medical photography as well.

Unknown said...

Since telemedicine and teledermatology are still in the phase of development, the system of financial incentives or rebates has not been devised and implied extensively. But this aspect does have major impact in the success or failure of this system. In the present era, when time is money, without financial benefits and incentives, how long one can volunteer for this. The system will not get popular esp. in third world countries like Paistan.

Simon Pucher said...

Like ijaz, I would also say that teledermatology and also remote medical services in this field are in phase of developing and it is only a question of time and commitment (e.g. from the government) to improve the reimbursement.