Peter Killcommons, CEO of MedWeb, discusses the rapid growth of telemedicine, predicting its market value will reach $113.1 billion by 2025 due to increasing consumer demand. However, insurance providers face challenges in adapting policies, particularly Medicare, which restricts coverage mainly to rural patients, while Medicaid is more supportive, offering reimbursement in 48 states. This highlights a significant shift in healthcare delivery, with telemedicine emerging as a critical alternative to traditional in-person visits.

1. Insurance Providers Evolving
to Accommodate
Telemedicine Coverage
Peter Killcommons

2. Introduction
 An alumnus of New York Medical College,
Dr. Peter "Pete" Killcommons founded
Medweb in 1992 and continues to serve as
the company's CEO. In this capacity, Peter
Killcommons oversees multiple divisions,
including disaster response and
telemedicine.
A rapidly evolving subsection of medical
treatment, telemedicine refers to the use of
telecommunications technology to deliver
instant clinical health care. Consumer
demand for telemedicine has risen
significantly in recent years and, as such, the
telemedicine market is expected to reach a
total value of $113.1 billion by 2025 for an
average compound annual growth rate of
more than 18 percent. Moreover, an
estimated 7 million patients in the United
States will have access to the service in 2018,
which marks a drastic increase from the
350,000 patients who used telehealth
services in 2013.

3. Telemedicine
 One of the major challenges to its
continued growth is insurance companies
and how they adapt to include
telemedicine services to their respective
reimbursement rules. Medicare, for
example, is still incredibly restrictive with
how it treats the evolving service. There is
room for exceptions but, for the most part,
it will only pay for a telemedicine
encounter if a patient resides in a rural
area and is present at a qualified
originating site.
Medicaid, however, is more liberal in its
reimbursement plans and views
telemedicine as an essential, cost-effective
alternative to face-to-face inpatient visits.
As of March 2018, a total of 48 state
Medicaid programs provide some level of
reimbursement for telehealth services.