Is a $0 visit fee telehealth service considered significant care? Regulators have not answered this question, although millions of Americans have access to telehealth and HDHP plans. Given everything going on, it’s time for some good news. The recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act has clarified that a $0-visit-fee telehealth service […]
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. and many state governments have taken a number of steps to expand access to telehealth services and reduce other barriers to care. Among other things, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has eliminated a number of restrictions on the coverage of telehealth services under […]
Medicare Telehealth Services On March 6, Congress passed the Coronavirus Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 6074), which included a $500 million authorization to enhance telehealth services. The legislation gives the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary the authority to waive or modify certain telehealth Medicare requirements when the president has declared a National Emergency, or […]
Earlier this week the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) passed the Senate and today has passed the House. President Trump has indicated that he will immediately sign the CARES Act. The Act makes numerous employee benefit changes, one of which is specifically allowing telehealth coverage for high deductible health plans (“HDHP”). […]
Physician offices across the country are rescheduling routine care clinic visits in an effort to protect patients, healthcare providers and workforce. The government is working to remove obstacles that would interfere with transitioning these clinic visits to telehealth services. On Tuesday, March 17, 2020, Medicare announced that it will reimburse physicians and other certain healthcare […]
Providers are using telehealth and mHealth now to take on the Coronavirus pandemic. They should also be capturing quality data and fine-tuning business plans to keep that momentum going after the emergency ends. March 23, 2020 – As healthcare providers embrace new telehealth and mHealth services to address the Coronavirus pandemic, they should remember one thing: Capture […]
On March 17, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) broadened Medicare coverage of telehealth services on a temporary and emergency basis pursuant to its waiver authority under Section 1135(b) of the Social Security Act. This waiver authority was expanded under the Coronavirus Preparedness and […]
As the Trump administration moves to lower barriers to using virtual health care services during the coronavirus pandemic, experts say the efforts will still leave a key demographic struggling to access the online services in the outbreak: older, higher-risk Americans in rural communities who lack high-speed internet. In recent weeks, the U.S. government has been […]
Last week, FDA published a guidance document, Enforcement Policy for Non-Invasive Remote Monitoring Devices Used to Support Patient Monitoring During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency, effective immediately, outlining a policy to enhance the ability and capability of non-invasive remote monitoring devices to monitor patients while reducing contact between patients and healthcare providers (HCP) to […]
As countries around the globe enforce social distancing and self-isolation to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth is emerging as a critical tool to connect physicians and other healthcare professionals with patients dealing with chronic cardiovascular conditions. “Before this pandemic, telehealth was sort of an ‘icing on the cake’ kind of a situation for the vast […]
The economy is not the only thing getting a boost from the stimulus package passed by Congress today. In an effort to expand access to virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic, more barriers to telehealth are falling with passage of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which President Donald Trump […]
Desperate to free up beds for only the sickest Covid-19 patients, hospitals nationwide are weighing the use of new technologies to monitor patients from their homes. Physicians at several hospitals said their discussions with makers of these devices have kicked into high gear in recent days after the FDA issued guidance indicating it would not object to […]
On March 27, the House of Representatives approved a historic $2 trillion stimulus package and sent it to President Trump for his signature, who then signed it into law. The package includes $100 billion to provide monetary assistance to the nation’s struggling hospitals coping with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The legislation will also deliver checks to individuals, expand unemployment benefits […]
As the COVID-19 outbreak keeps spreading globally, health system leaders, clinicians on the front lines and others have emphasized the use of telehealth during a time when in-person care increases the risk that others—including those who are delivering care—could get the virus. Indeed, there has been no shortage of reports and stories in the mainstream and trade […]