Lancaster-based OvaryIt LLC recently announced that it will receive a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Highmark Blue Shield’s senior medical director, Dr. Tim Law, spoke to the Journal about how the pandemic impacted Highmark as a payer and what the telemedicine space looks like for payers today. 

If you were to ask any health system executive what the future of health care was in 2019, they would have said telemedicine. And in March of last year, with patients unable to access their physicians because of the quarantine, that shift to telemedicine happened in weeks, not years.

UPMC Pinnacle was awarded more than $705,000 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enhance telehealth services at its hospitals.

Highmark said it will be waiving deductibles, coinsurance and copayments for telehealth services and inpatient hospital care related to COVID-19 through September 30.

Regional urgent care provider Patient First is offering telehealth appointments for its patients in Pennsylvania, and drive-up COVID-19 testing at a number of its locations in the state.

A series of changes in Medicare over the last month allowing health care providers to receive reimbursements for telemedicine services was something providers thought would take years.

A Dauphin County-based psychiatry practice plans to add an online segment to its services to reach more patients.

In the midst of growing its urgent care services in the midstate, WellSpan Health revealed a new online tool to offer similar non-emergency medical care on-demand.

Rite Aid has launched RediClinic Express, a virtual health care kiosk, available in  southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey sites.

Rural hospitals remain a gateway to care for roughly 2 million Pennsylvania residents. But those hospitals are under increasing financial strain.