Question

In your own words list 2 barriers that you feel are preventing the growth of telemedicine in rural areas of this country and explain why those barriers exist. Your 2 barriers may be technical or non-technical.  

Answer 1

The two barriers of telemedicine in rural area are credentialing and reimbursement
Credentialing:
The telemedicine credentialing process can get very complicated. For example ,in hospitals that work from a hub and spoke model, physician specialists at every Hospital in the system must have telemedicine credentials at all the other hospitals. Not only in the volume of paperwork need for credentialing time consuming ,but the administrative processing costs are through the roof. The time and money invested in approving physician credentials for telemedicine could be used to train Hospital staff and onboard patients instead.
Reimbursement:
Insufficient capital expenditure and lack of reimbursements are serious financial issues for telemedicine field . Similar to licensing laws, reimbursement models vary across the country. Certain criteria have to be met in order for practitioners to receive reimbursement .Our state by State Policy guide has the most up-to-date information these laws .When reimbursement is limited patient in the affected region are underserved in many cases ,the cost of telemedicine is a burden Hospital are expected to bear.