The Justice Department announced criminal charges in a $1.2 billion telemedicine fraud scheme committed by numerous individuals across the United States. In some cases the owners of clinical labs are accused of paying kickbacks to marketers, who in turn paid bribes to telemedicine companies in return for physician orders.
Category: Telemedicine
Friday Links
- Scott Sumner on the FDA’s reversal – allowing pharmacists to prescribe the Pfizer Covid vaccine: Is 350 people dying every day the reason the government finally saw the light?
- A pocket-sized, smartphone-directed ultrasound could become as “ubiquitous as the stethoscope.”
- Are we in danger of losing control of Monkeypox?
- During the US Open, airplanes were diverted from the match’s airspace and flew over other neighborhoods. The result: more insomnia, more cardiovascular disease, and more substance abuse and mental health emergencies. But great tennis!
- Covid hasn’t gone away: There were many more new COVID infections in the past week in the US than in the corresponding week 1 year ago and 2 years ago.
- Telemedicine surged during the pandemic:
Weekly telemedicine visits for one insurer increased from a mean of 773 in 2020 prior to stay-at-home orders to 45,632 in subsequent weeks. Patients who were older, had existing chronic conditions, were male, or resided in predominantly non-Hispanic Black or African American Census tracts showed increased telemedicine utilization in later weeks of the pandemic.
Anxious, Depressed? There’s an App for that
Covid and the lockdowns increased self-reported cases of anxiety and depression but patients were unable to meet therapists face-to-face. All forms of telemedicine rose in 2020 and 2021 including psychotherapy. Covid jump started online and telephone-based metal health counseling. As a result, therapist and patient began connecting through apps.
Recent Studies: Video Games Boost Cognitive Ability. What?
When I think of video games, the first thing that comes to mind is the hours of time wasted sitting in front of a monitor. We’ve all heard jokes about young men who refuse to grow up and live in their parents’ basement playing video games all day and into the night. I’ve read countless letters in advice columns where women support slacker husbands or boyfriends, who won’t hold jobs and spend hours a day playing video games. Yet, resent studies found video game playing may have benefits.