The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society Med Journal July 2019 Final 2 | Page 21

been paid by Medicaid, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, United, etc.” Making Telemedicine Work in Your Organization For implementation, Dr. Canon recommended a dedicated team, good equipment and infrastructure, and buy-in on both ends. Stephen Canon, MD but all services provided via telemedicine as long as the service is comparable to the in-person service. “Thanks to Act 887 and Act 203, there is opportunity to conduct telemedicine in Arkansas and to get paid for it,” he said. “There are some inconsistencies with reimbursement, but we have At ACH, telemedicine started by working with the UAMS ANGELS program and prenatal consultations. Following that example, Dr. Canon and his division began implementing telemedicine. “We started with post-op visits and then moved to pre-operative visits and medical management,” he said. “Beyond that, we have established relationships with regional clinics through UAMS. That’s difficult to do because you don’t have the same EMR, boss, financial billing structure, etc., so there’s a lot that goes into that. It took us a year to get up and running, but we started in Texarkana and have expanded to Fort Smith. Our hope is to eventually be able to provide service to all the regional programs in the state. We’re not limited to them, but we’re taking it a step at a time. “We’ve been doing this for about eight years. We’ve had about 500 encounters. Over the same time frame, we’ve seen [in person] about 64,000 encounters. The harsh reality is, we’re not making a huge dent in making it main-stream, but I think these are the steps you have to go through to get there.” As an example of someone going “all-in” with telemedicine, Dr. Canon described Brent Lawless, MD, a psychiatrist who recently made the decision to join a full-time telemedicine group. “He will be doing psychiatry for 15 states. In my own view, that’s another way to really use the technology because mixing it into your regular practice – like we do – is challenging. It can be done, but in some ways, it might be easier to do one or the other.” In conclusion, Dr. Canon said, “It’s easy to draw it up and think how it should be, but the reality is, it’s windy and irregular, and there’s going to be some unexpected turns. That’s the way it’s going to be for telemedicine, but it will come. Patients who live far off tell us that they appreciate the less time and distance. The challenge is getting more access to more patients in rural Arkansas. If I can keep them from driving the entire day, I think that’s a worthy goal.” For more information, email Dr. Canon at [email protected]. AMS Night at the Travs Doug Cahill; Amy Cahill, MD; Joe Stallings, MD; Brad Bibb, MD Dennis Yelvington, MD; Chad Rodgers, MD NUMBER 1 William Clark, III, MD; Stephen A. Imbeau, MD The AMS Staff and Dr. and Mrs. George Conner JULY 2019 • 21