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UMMC tells Mississippi insurance committee telehealth expands access but laws lag on payment and definitions
Summary
University of Mississippi Medical Center presenters told the Insurance Committee that telehealth and remote patient monitoring have expanded access statewide—including school-based care and a maternal monitoring study—but identified obstacles in payment parity, prior authorization and unclear statutory definitions for eConsults.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center told the Mississippi Insurance Committee on Sept. 11 that its Center for Telehealth has built statewide programs that increase access — but state law and payer rules are limiting wider adoption.
Dr. Saurabh Chandra, UMMC’s chief telehealth officer, said the center is a long-standing state hub for telemedicine and one of two HRSA-designated centers of excellence the state has housed. He described telehealth modalities ranging from live audio-video visits and store-and-forward consultations to provider-to-provider eConsults, and said the center now has some form of presence in 61 counties at more than 180 sites.
"Store-and-forward is passing on photos and notes — that’s how a patient can share a rash with a dermatologist," Chandra said. "Provider-to-provider consults allow primary care doctors to send a summary and receive a specialist’s recommendation without the specialist seeing the patient directly." He told the committee the model shortens travel time and reduces unnecessary specialist appointments for rural patients.
Dr. Tiersney Davis, UMMC’s director of clinical programs and strategy, outlined signature programs that rely on telehealth: a school-based telehealth effort that presently operates in 32 districts and about 205 schools, and a maternity remote patient monitoring (RPM) study. "We’ve had 117 mothers enrolled," Davis said; the presentation noted 61 babies have been born from the cohort and projected about 130 completions if the current participants finish the study.
UMMC also reported clinical and workforce benefits from telehealth deployments: RPM work for diabetes, hypertension and congestive heart failure showed improvements in A1c and blood-pressure control and fewer avoidable hospitalizations; a virtual nursing program was linked to near-zero staff turnover in an initial unit. Dr. Chandra also said initial internal data from AI-assisted fall-prevention work in one unit showed a 67% reduction in falls with harm.
UMMC representatives made policy recommendations to the committee. They said Mississippi statute currently guarantees payment parity only for store-and-forward services and not for live audio-video visits, restricting provider uptake. They also asked the committee to consider streamlining Medicaid prior authorization for RPM, to explicitly define eConsults in state law and Medicaid policy so provider-to-provider consultations receive coverage and payment parity, and to allow limited audio-only coverage for defined conditions such as behavioral health and routine follow-ups where broadband is unavailable.
"Lack of reimbursement for audio-video visits limits access to providers for patients in rural hospitals," Chandra said, and he recommended statutory changes to expand coverage and payment parity. Committee members, including clinicians in the room, pressed on maternal eligibility and access, with one clinician arguing that pregnancy should be treated as a high-risk condition and not gated behind a chronic-disease requirement.
UMMC demonstrated a live link to McGee General Hospital, where nurse practitioner Jill Nicholas described reduced transfers and the ability to provide higher-level care locally when connected to UMMC specialists. Greg Hall, UMMC’s director of IT, showed camera control, remote peripherals (stethoscopes, otoscopes), and described the patient workflow through UMMC’s portal, including intake, insurance verification and payment steps. Hall said closed-caption and real-time translation projects are in development and that routine telehealth sessions are not recorded by default; consent processes are used for camera-equipped rooms.
The committee acknowledged the operational gains presented but also heard specific policy concerns from UMMC and clinical committee members. The meeting record shows the center’s recommendations focused on legal and coverage changes—payment parity for audio-video services, RPM prior-authorization relief, and statutory recognition of eConsults—to sustain expansion and reach more rural Mississippians.
The committee did not take formal action on the recommendations at this meeting; presenters stood for questions and offered to provide additional materials at future sessions.
