AHRQ Seeks Public Data on COVID-19 Telehealth Programs

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is asking for help from the public in assessing how telehealth has been used during the pandemic.

The agency last week published a request for information in the Federal Register asking for scientific evidence that would help the Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) Program complete its review of telehealth during the COVID-19 era. The data is due by November 12.

The AHRQ request is one of many by federal and state agencies looking to understand how connected health platforms and tools have been used during the public health emergency to improve access to care, as well as how they may have contributed to adverse events. This information would be useful in establishing long-term telehealth policy beyond the PHE.

In particular, the agency is asking these questions:

1. What are the characteristics of patient, provider, and health systems using telehealth during the COVID-19 era, specifically:

• What are the characteristics of patients (for example, age, race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, education, geographic location (urban vs. rural))?
• What are the provider and health system characteristics (for example, specialty, geographic location, private practice, hospital-based practice)?
• How do the characteristics of patients, providers, and health systems differ between the first four months of the COVID-19 era versus the remainder of the COVID-19 era?

2. What are the benefits and harms of telehealth during the COVID-19 era?

• Does this vary by type of telehealth intervention (that is., telephone, video visits)?
• Does this vary by patient characteristic (that is, age, gender, race/ethnicity, type of clinical condition or health concern, geographic location)?
• Does this vary by provider and health system characteristic (that is, specialty, geographic location, private practice, hospital-based practice)?

3. What is considered a successful telehealth intervention during the COVID-19 era:

• From the patient or caregiver perspective?
• From the provider perspective?
• From the health system perspective?

4. What strategies have been used to implement telehealth interventions during the COVID-19 era?

a. What are the barriers and enablers of a successful telehealth strategy (for example, setting, reimbursement, access to technology)?

• From the patient or caregiver perspective?
• From the provider perspective?
• From the health system perspective?

The agency is also asking two contextual questions:

1. What are the costs of implementation and return on investment for telehealth during the COVID-19 era to the provider/healthcare system?

2. What are the policy and reimbursement considerations for telehealth during the COVID-19 era?

• How are these policy and reimbursement considerations for telehealth changing in the post-COVID-19 era (from March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic to present); at the federal level (policies such as Medicare), state level (policies such as Medicaid), and by private insurance payers?
• How do changes in reimbursement policies impact telehealth strategies?