• HMSA Awarded Pandemic Acceleration and Activation Award

    July 27, 2020

    HMSA wins award for virtual care during pandemic

    The Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA) was awarded the Pandemic Acceleration and Activation Award from national telehealth leader Amwell. This award recognizes organizations for their agile and swift virtual responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. HMSA was recognized for its ability to rapidly scale its virtual care platform, HMSA’s Online Care, to meet unprecedented levels of demand and deliver care safely to members during the pandemic.

    “HMSA has been providing online care to our members for more than a decade,” said HMSA President and Chief Executive Officer Mark M. Mugiishi, M.D., F.A.C.S. “This award highlights HMSA’s response to COVID-19, where we saw a 271% increase in virtual visits from March to May and we cut the average wait time for patients by more than half.”

    Due to an increase in member demand for Online Care, HMSA quickly trained and onboarded providers, which increased medical and behavioral health specialists by an additional 500 providers. HMSA also



     

    mobilized its own Online Care customer service team to better support providers and patients, which included updating hmsa.com with information about telehealth and using email and other channels to educate members about their benefits.

    HMSA’s expanded coverage for telehealth services also includes waiving copayments for all telehealth services for fully insured commercial plan, Medicare, and Medicaid members through the end of the year.

    For more information on HMSA’s Online Care, visit https://hmsa. com/well-being/online-care/.

    July 27, 2020 West Hawaii Today