Teleneurology cost

[Neurologo]

I have a group of neurologists friends wanting to set up teleneurology service in small rural urgent care/EDs near where we are. Does anyone have a rough ballpark of how much to charge per facility for 24/7 coverage?

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[deleted496821]

This depends on many, many operations factors:

- Are your friends seeking to simply provide the professional component to these rural facilities, akin to a group practice simply asking for Telehealth-only privileges at these facilities?

- Who will be doing the billing? The group of MDs or the facilities? With new Telehealth legislation enacted, if these facilities are truly rural by CMS definition then these encounters are eligible for CMS reimbursement. Otherwise your friends would need to come-up with a reasonable cash-per-consult +/- base coverage fee rate.

- How will their services be delivered? Your friends will need to ensure a secure network for telehealth encounters. A simple Facetime encounter will not do the trick. This will rest on the facilities or your friends' group to establish and maintain this. This can be paid-for as a SaaS (Software As A Service) but will come at a premium rate.

- Can your friends' group guarantee 24/7/365 coverage? This is what competitive Telehealth groups are offering for emergency Neurology (tpa cases, LVO cases, SE) and other groups are offering daily rounding services now for General / Non-emergent cases. If the group offers 24/7/365 coverage in the contract and cannot actually provide this then the contract will default.

In short, your friends would need to offer-up a scenario in which they can provide coverage at a competitive rate while also accounting for the new billing that CMS allows for rural hospitals, come up with a reliable, secure network with 24/7 tech support that is competitive with SaaS already available, and ensure reliable coverage within the group.

In short, this is beyond a simply task for a small group of physicians without operations experience. There are large Telehealth groups that are MD-owned and operated as well as larger more corporate Tech companies offering Clinical Service lines that offer all of the above and more. These contracts are hypercompetitive and I doubt a small MD operated group would be in the running for most.

 

[Neurologo]

Excellent thoughts, FoodLovinMD.

I am well aware of the tele only companies. The major downside of these companies is that patients cannot follow up in clinic in person. Some companies are attempting to replace in-person neurology encounter entirely by also doing follow-up visits via tele. I am one of those that believe tele-neuro should be limited to emergent cases only. We are offering tele service to the surrounding small facilities with ability to see ther patients in person in our clinic. They are all truly rural with populations less than 100k or even 50k. Getting equipments and setting up network is not that complicated nor is it very expensive as there are several competing companies offering just that. No need to feel you cannot compete against the "bigger" tele companies. None of them are that big anyway. Local neurologists offering tele to neighboring rural communties is the ideal situation, if they are willing, rather than relying on unknown somebody on the other side of the country. These small facilities rarely calls anyway. That's my view.

BTW, I found the typical market average prices for tele service. Moderators can close this thread if they wish. Thank you.

 

[neurochica]

The contract that i seen, and helped set up, is $150 per encounter.