Telemedicine
Patton Boggs offers clients strategic guidance through all aspects of developing and deploying telemedicine projects. Combining the skill of our TechComm group with the depth of our Health Care practice, we guide clients through the process of designing and developing successful telemedicine projects, working to change federal policies related to telemedicine, securing funding, and working through the myriad regulatory issues related to telemedicine, including reimbursement, interstate licensing, and universal service support.
We understand the complex interplay of health care regulation and reimbursement, as well as the variety of technologies that can be adapted to health care delivery. We are experienced in the emerging field of mobile telemedicine – implementing broadband communications technology into mobile health clinics to allow the exchange of vital health information in real-time from a mobile platform to a range of health care facilities and experts.
Because of the firm’s breadth, we can provide strategic guidance regarding selecting the right technology, identifying key communications partners, and accessing the right medical experts.
Representative engagements include:
- Representing telemedicine projects before USAC and the FCC;
- Representing a telemedicine project before the FCC to urge the expansion of the Rural Health Care Program to cover satellite services for mobile health clinics;
- Counseling a consortium of healthcare providers on issues related to their telehealth network;
- Advocating for the emergency medicine telehealth project, including work to seek grant funding;
- Counseling an electronic medical records project, addressing telecommunications and HIPAA issues;
- Counseling telecommunications carriers on telemedicine network needs and opportunities to facilitate entry in the marketplace; and
- Counseling medical equipment manufacturers on development of equipment capable of use for telemedicine.