Congress Continues to Press for Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Coverage

The drumbeat for permanent telehealth coverage is growing louder, with yet another bill introduced in Congress and calling for expanded guidelines and more reimbursement.

The Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act, sponsored by US Reps Doris Matsui (D-CA), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Bill Johnson (R-OH) and David Schweikert (R-AZ), aims to continue telehealth freedoms enacted during the coronavirus pandemic past the emergency, including continued coverage for connected health in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health centers (RHCs) and telehealth delivered to a patient’s home.

“Rising to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, providers nationwide are leaning into telehealth to ensure patients have access to the care they need while safely social distancing,” Matsui said in a press release. “Especially in our medically underserved communities and for individuals highly vulnerable to the virus’ spread, leveraging telehealth is helping to advance our broader mission to equalize access to care. Waivers during the emergency have been critical to supporting digital care, but we must act to make these pro-telehealth policies permanent.”

“This important legislation would permanently expand Medicare telehealth services to patients in all geographic areas and allow patients to receive virtual care at home,” she added. “It also supports our FQHC’s ability to continue to provide vital services via telehealth. Recognizing our changing world, we must continue to explore and support innovative solutions to enhance access to health care, improve connectivity, and meet patients where they are at.”

The bill joins a growing number of bills aimed at extending telehealth coverage or studying how telehealth has been used during the pandemic, as well as a letter signed by 340 healthcare providers, organizations and advocacy groups calling for Congressional action and a task force formed to help lawmakers.  

“Telehealth services have been a lifeline for more than 9 million seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Krista Drobac, executive director of the Alliance for Connected Care, which launched the task force last month with the American Telemedicine Association and the NCQA, said in a press release. “The Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act will ensure that this access does not disappear once the coronavirus emergency is over.”

“The health of our citizens and the integrity of our healthcare system cannot withstand telehealth services to simply ‘switch off’ when the COVID-19 pandemic ends,” added ATA CEO Ann Mond Johnson. “This legislation is an important step towards breaking down discriminatory geographic restrictions and modernizing our healthcare delivery system.”

Among the bills now before Congress are the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act, which aims to continue telehealth policies implemented in the CARES Act and expand access for seniors; the KEEP Telehealth Options Act and the Evaluating Disparities and Outcomes of Telehealth During the COVID-19 Emergency Act, both of which call for a detailed study of telehealth use during the COVID-19 crisis by the Department of Health and Human Services; and the Equal Access to Care Act, which would allow care providers to use telehealth in any state to treat patients anywhere for up to six months after the pandemic.

This latest bill would, specifically, continue the current slate of telehealth reimbursements 90 days beyond the end of the public health emergency, make permanent the HHS Secretary’s disaster waiver authority to allow Medicare expansion during future emergencies; and mandate a, HHS study on telehealth use during the pandemic, to be completed within six months.