Various Strategies Can Guide the Future of Telehealth

As telehealth claims a more prominent place in care delivery, researchers noted that various efforts could continue service enhancement while reducing costs, avoiding fraud and abuse, and increasing patient utilization.

Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare had strict telehealth restrictions, which limited the availability of services to those living in urban environments.

However, many restrictions were lifted during the pandemic, increasing access to telehealth, resulting in a rise in claims by 12 percent in April 2020.

Although telehealth has been very resourceful, increased utilization levels have likely resulted in increased costs.

Researchers noted that an expansion of telehealth would require a payment model such as Accountable Care Organizations rather than a fee-for-service payment.

Fraud and abuse have also increased along with the implementation of telehealth, with overall recoveries in healthcare fraud doubling between 2019 and 2021. The American Bar Association stated that this could likely be due to up-coding time and complexity, misrepresenting services, not rendering the billing of services, and kickback schemes.

Although many of these acts break initial rules, MedPAC suggested strategies for limiting this type of behavior. They recommended increased examination for clinicians who bill telehealth services.

Researchers also considered risks associated with audio-only telehealth and how a confirmation that this platform is beneficial to those who do not have access to video services is necessary.

The main conclusions that researchers drew from the study were that telehealth had benefitted a large portion of the American population. However, in the future, precautions are necessary.

These precautions include Congress developing comprehensive and sound legislation to improve accessibility, providing safeguards to protect patients and federal spending, ensuring fraud protection, and evaluating the impact of telehealth from the past.

Various studies from the last several years have highlighted the important things to consider regarding the future of telehealth.

A study from June 2021 emphasized how there will be continued use of telehealth in the years to come and how supportive funding for access and connectivity can work with barriers to technological infrastructure, expanding access to telehealth.

A bipartisan bill created earlier this month aims to increase virtual mental health services access. Introduced by US senators Brown, Thune, and Cardin, the Medicaid Ensuring Necessary Telehealth is Available Long-term (MENTAL) Health for Kids and Underserved Act seeks to enhance education and services through telehealth.

In March 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistic stated that pediatric mental health services decreased by 43 percent. MENTAL plans to work with COVID-19 restrictions, allowing behavioral services to operate in school-based settings.