We learned during the pandemic that some stopgaps are in fact improvements over what went before, and telehealth is leading that pack of innovations with ongoing widespread support.
With emergency COVID reimbursement rules expiring at the state and federal levels, there’s a flurry of activity this week on extending and expanding use of telehealth, perhaps permanently.
On Monday (Feb. 7) U.S. senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) introduced a bill to extend telehealth payments for Medicare enrollees.
Because timing is everything, Amazon followed that with an announcement on Tuesday (Feb. 8) that its Amazon Care virtual service “is now available nationwide — and in-person services will be rolled out in more than 20 new cities this year.”
The new proposed Telehealth Extension and Evaluation Act asks for a “two-year extension of telehealth services following the COVID–19 emergency period” allowing medical practices to continue using video visits and be reimbursed for doing so until 2023.
This comes after the omicron variant caused a spike in telehealth usage.
PYMNTS reported that “Some 2.1 million more customers turned to healthcare products and services in December compared to November 2021, PYMNTS research showed. Further, in-person physician visits dropped off by 2.8 million patients in December over November.”
See also: Omicron Sparked Uptick in Telemedicine Services, eCommerce
Per a press release, passing the bill “would allow Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to extend Medicare payments for a broad range of telehealth services, including for substance abuse treatment, for an additional two years.”
It added, “The bill would also commission a study on the impact of the pandemic telehealth flexibilities extended in this bill in order to better inform Congress’ work to make telehealth flexibilities permanent.”
Advocacy group The Alliance for Connected Care issued its second letter in as many weeks on Monday (Feb. 7), calling for swift passage of the Telehealth Extension and Evaluation Act.
Executive Director Krista Drobac said, “This legislation will provide certainty to beneficiaries and healthcare providers alike, while ensuring sufficient time is taken to analyze the impact of telehealth on patient care throughout the pandemic to inform permanent telehealth reform.”
In its previous letter dated Jan. 31, 2022 and signed by 330 organizations, The Alliance asked lawmakers to “authorize the continuation of all current telehealth waivers through December 31, 2024” to “require HHS complete all feasible evaluations related to telehealth by fall 2023 and combine findings into a single overarching dashboard with recommendations to inform permanent telehealth legislation by Congress,” and to “take up permanent, evidence-based telehealth legislation for implementation in 2024.”
See also: Telemedicine Expansion And Policy Standards Get State, Federal Support
As federal agencies decide how telemedicine should or should not become an accepted mode of reimbursable treatment, several independent health insurers see the frontline impact and bottom-line efficiencies of telemedicine and are moving ahead with plans of their own.
On Tuesday (Feb. 8) Empire BlueCross and Empire BlueCross BlueShield in New York announced availability of its virtual primary care service to eligible members in its commercial health plans.
Empire President and CEO Alan Murray said, “Consumers are adopting digital technologies at an accelerating pace. To meet this demand, we continually introduce innovative services that make healthcare more convenient … align with the more consumer-centric experiences they have come to expect in many other areas of their lives.”
Also, on Tuesday, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Kentucky made a virtually identical announcement on telehealth use and reimbursement.
A common element in both is use of the Sydney Health mobile health app developed for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield with Chicago-based Foxbox Digital.
See also: New Telemedicine App Provider Ranking Thinks You Should Have That Looked At
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