New Letter Urges Congress to Establish a Post-Pandemic Telehealth Policy

Telehealth advocates have launched another effort to prompt Congress to establish a post-pandemic connected health policy.

The eHealth Initiative is leading a new letter-writing effort to permanently extend several key waivers put in place during the height of the COVID-19 public health emergency to expand access to and coverage of telehealth services. Among those supporting the letter are the American Telemedicine Association, Alliance for Connected Care, Consumer Technology Association, Health Innovation Alliance, Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Personal Connected Health Alliance and Partnership to Advance Virtual Care.

“Many of the telehealth flexibilities are temporary and limited to the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency,” the letter reads. “Without action from Congress, Medicare beneficiaries will abruptly lose access to nearly all recently expanded coverage of telehealth when the COVID-19 PHE ends. This would have a chilling effect on access to care across the entire US healthcare system, including on patients that have established relationships with providers virtually, with potentially dire consequences for their health.”

Addressed to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the letter calls on Congress to:

• Remove geographic and originating site restrictions for telehealth, expanding telehealth services in rural areas and enabling patient to receive care in their homes;
• Give the Health and Human Services Secretary the authority to expand the list of providers able to use telehealth and add or remove services that can be delivered via telehealth and covered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and allow CMS to expand coverage for other modalities, such as audio-only telehealth, when clinically appropriate;
• Allow federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics and critical-access hospitals to continue to use telehealth after the PHE ends; and
• Eliminate restrictions on Medicare coverage for telemental health services, including the requirement that a provider and patient first meet in person before using telehealth.

“Telehealth is not a COVID-19 novelty, and the regulatory flexibilities granted by Congress must not be viewed solely as pandemic response measures,” the letter continues. “Patient satisfaction surveys and claims data from CMS and private health plans tell a compelling story of the large-scale transformation of our nation’s health care system over the past year and, importantly, demonstrate strong patient interest and demand for telehealth access post-pandemic.”

The letter follows a similar letter delivered to Congressional leadership in June 2020 – which was signed by roughly 340 organizations – and a 22-page report sent in October outlining recommended federal policy changes to expand telehealth access and coverage during and after the PHE.

With this latest effort, the organizations aim to keep the pressure on Congress to establish some sort of telehealth policy before the federal PHE ends, and to help providers expand their virtual care platforms. Many have taken advantage of the COVID-19 waivers and emergency measures to adopt or expand services, but are pausing or rolling back those services as states end their public health emergencies and, in some cases, return to pre-pandemic telehealth laws.

The eHI is asking interested parties to sign the letter by this Friday, July 23.