Over the last several years, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri has been expanding access to care through telehealth, urging consumers to use this valuable tool as an entry point to care that is fast, easy and more affordable. In the early days of the pandemic, we worked with our care provider partners […]
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Telehealth experienced massive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, due in no small part to various regulatory and reimbursement policies that federal agencies implemented following a declaration by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in early 2020 that the COVID-19 pandemic was a public health emergency (PHE). Although the […]
The use of telehealth increased exponentially in 2020 and 2021 as health care providers and patients responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that the use of telehealth services by Medicaid enrollees increased 15-fold from March 2020 to February 2022.1 This increasing utilization was spurred in part by Medicaid agencies adjusting policies […]
The COVID-19 public health emergency declared by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expired earlier this month. But that doesn’t mean the deadly respiratory illness has disappeared, warned Deb Houry, MD, MPH, chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). COVID-19 and […]
The Defense Health Agency plans to advance its use of virtual technology with an aim to get the patient connected to the medical provider no matter where they are, according to one of the agency’s top doctors. Dr. Brian Lein, assistant director for health care administration for the DHA, said the agency needs to invest […]
May 24, 2023 – Earlier this month, a group of six United States House representatives introduced the Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act, which intends to maintain regional telehealth access and Medicare coverage flexibilities enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The expansion of telehealth that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic helped boost access to care, including in rural areas. […]
America, and for that matter the world, is facing a growing challenge in caring for two expanding groups of patients — those 60 and older and patients with such chronic diseases as cancer, diabetes and obesity. Across the globe, the 60-and-older population is increasing quickly and will surpass 2 billion by 2050, according to the World […]
Table of Contents What is Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)? Broadly speaking, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is a healthcare delivery method that uses innovations in information technology to allow the streamlined collection of patient data beyond the traditional healthcare setting. You may also hear it called remote patient management, remote health monitoring, or remote physiologic monitoring. […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has clarified that outpatient therapists can continue to bill Medicare Part B for telehealth services across a range of facilities, including home health, as it did during the pandemic. The update represents a positive development for hospital-based therapists. As the end of the PHE loomed, it appeared that these […]
2023: New Federal Developments New Item Activity OIG Report: Medicare Improperly Paid Providers for Some Psychotherapy Services, Including those Provided via Telehealth, During the First Year of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE)Released May 2023 The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) released a report detailing findings […]
On May 10, 2023, HHS announced that many telehealth and teleprescribing flexibilities will remain in place after the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023. Congress extended many telehealth flexibilities under the Medicare program through December 31, 2024, via the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and […]
May 22, 2023 – A new report from the Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) found that various changes in telehealth policies related to Medicaid reimbursement, private-payer laws, and professional requirements occurred at the state level in 2023. Encompassing the period of January to March 2023, this spring report followed the standard process of organizing information under three headings: […]
Telehealth Access for America wrote a letter urging Congress to recognize the value of virtual care and the need to protect it. Telehealth Access for America (TAFA), an American Hospital Association-created campaign to protect patient access to critical telehealth services, urged Congress to make permanent certain Medicare telehealth flexibilities granted during the COVID-19 public health […]
The May 11 expiration of the federal public health emergency declaration will bring changes to federal healthcare programs, with various regulatory flexibilities expiring immediately or within a short period of time. Many policy interventions to combat COVID-19 will continue, however, leaving senior living providers to navigate the unwinding of pandemic-era rules and sometimes conflicting state-level guidelines. […]
The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11 has created dizzying changes for Medicare beneficiaries. Whether Medicare will or won’t cover certain health care costs may now depend on whether you are in Traditional Medicare or a private insurer’s Medicare Advantage plan, want remote monitoring for a chronic condition, and need rehab […]