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Diving brief:
- A bill that would expand Medicare telehealth flexibilities has advanced with unanimous bipartisan support during a House committee Wednesday, as lawmakers scramble to meet the year-end deadline when pandemic-era rules expire.
- The legislation would extend a number of Medicare flexibilities, such as removing geographic restrictions, expanding which providers can offer virtual services, and allowing audio-only telehealth care through the end of 2026. The bill will now submitted to the House.
- Although lawmakers have largely endorsed expanding access to telehealth, some have stressed that more work needs to be done to study the effects of virtual care on vulnerable groups or the risks of fraud and abuse.
Dive overview:
Once a niche method of providing healthcare, Telehealth Use Has Skyrocketed in Medicare During the COVID-19 pandemic, regulators have relaxed rules to try to preserve access during social distancing.
Some flexibilities have been made permanent, but others are ready to expire at the end of this year – a concern for telehealth providers and groups who say uncertainty makes things difficult fully invest in virtual care.
Telehealth is also a boon for access to care, particularly for people who are often inaccessible. mental health care or rural communities that face long distances to doctors' offices, advocates say.
“I think everyone understands the critical importance of this. … Five hours one way for a 10 or 15 minute office visit is just insane,” Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said during the Ways and Means Committee meeting .
The bill, called the Preserving Telehealth, Hospital, and Ambulance Access Act, allows federal health centers and rural health clinics to bill Medicare for telehealth, delays the in-person visit requirement for mental health care and allows most hospice providers to use telehealth to satisfy. Basic face-to-face requirements for recertification.
The legislation also extends Medicare's acute hospitalization at home program for five years. The costs would be offset in part by transparency and compensation requirements for pharmacy benefit managers who work with Part D and Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans.
Lawmakers showed support to expand telehealth flexibilities, but some have raised questions about cost, quality and how to ensure patients still have in-person options.
Telehealth should be a permanent part of Medicare, said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., one of the members who introduced the legislation. But two more years to study the use of telehealth and consider safeguards would be helpful.
“We have an obligation to be responsible stewards of taxpayers’ money,” he said. “And there are ways this committee can work to ensure that Medicare pays for telehealth in high-value settings, avoids unnecessary use, and puts strong anti-fraud and anti-abuse measures in place.”