Bryan administration launched survey on U.S. Virgin Islands telehealth readiness

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.'s administration launched a survey on Oct. 12, 2020, to assess how prepared doctors and other healthcare providers in the U.S. Virgin Islands were to use telehealth services such as video visits and remote patient monitoring.

The USVI Telehealth Provider Survey was emailed to doctors and healthcare providers across the territory and was also made available online. The administration said the survey took about five minutes to complete, responses were confidential, and submissions were due by Nov. 2, 2020.

According to the administration, the survey was intended to measure telehealth capacity and identify gaps in areas including information-technology staffing, technology needs, software and hardware. It also was intended to provide baseline information for development of a territorial Health Information Exchange.

Dr. Julia Sheen, the governor's health and human services policy adviser, said the administration recommended that a senior administrator in a medical office complete the survey because it covered facility information, telehealth capacity and Health Information Exchange capacity.

The administration said Sheen had been working since January 2020 with public- and private-sector stakeholders through the V.I. Telehealth Workgroup on telehealth planning, including policy and regulatory issues such as Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement, malpractice coverage, provider licensing and enabling legislation.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/governor-bryan-launches-survey-on-usvis-readiness-for-telehealth/