VA plans to end telehealth copays and fund access to virtual care in rural areas
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has announced a proposal to eliminate telehealth co-pays for veterans and establish a grant program to fund designated VA telehealth access points in non-VA facilities.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
This week, the VA announced that it is proposing to amend a regulation – the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Healthcare Improvement Act of 2019 – to exempt all telehealth services from the law’s copayment requirements.
The law also grants the agency authority to establish a telehealth grant program.
The VA said in an announcement Monday that it is also proposing access to telehealth through local stations. The program would focus on serving veterans in rural and medically underserved communities who may not have accessible health care facilities within their communities or reliable internet service.
ATLAS would provide funding to organizations, including nonprofits and private businesses, to provide veterans with a private space equipped with high-speed internet access and the technology to meet with VA providers remotely.
The grants would also provide specific funding to train on-site staff to support the program, the said proposed rule published in the Federal Register on Wednesday.
“VA has developed a telehealth program as a modern, veteran-, beneficiary-, and family-centered health care delivery model that utilizes information and telecommunications technologies,” the agency said in its proposal.
Note that the program is “regardless of the state or location within a state where the health care professional or patient is physically located at the time the health care is provided.”
THE BIG TREND
Also, the agency announced in September that veterans across the country who are unsure if they have a health emergency can contact VA Health Connect and speak with a clinical triage nurse who can connect them to tele-urgent care if necessary .
According to one story about the expanded program in the new federal health publication Impact, VA’s tele-emergency care service has served more than 61,000 callers and resolved 59.4% of cases without veterans having to travel from their home to an emergency room or emergency department.
“Veterans can receive immediate, virtual triage with a VA medical provider who has direct access to their medical records,” said VA Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal in the story.
“This prevents you from potentially having to drive to the nearest emergency department and wait for evaluation, if necessary.”
Earlier this year, the VA also began waiving veterans’ copays for their first three outpatient mental health visits each year.
Telehealth has been an important access point to care for veterans, and the agency laid the groundwork for the telehealth surge caused by the pandemic, said Dr. Neil Evans, chief operating officer of the Office of Connected Care at the Veterans Health Administration.
The VA Telehealth Emergency Management Team, created in response to Hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017, launched the Anywhere to Anywhere VA Healthcare program. The COVID-19 crisis has increased video-to-home telehealth encounters in VA by 3,147%, from 294,847 encounters in fiscal year 2019 to 9,575,958 in fiscal year 2021.
By 2023, the agency partnered with the Veterans Health Administration’s National Center for Collaborative Healthcare Innovation, the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System and Verizon Public Sector to implement network-as-a-service architecture at Palo Alto Healthcare System to increase access to address concerns for rural residents. veterans.
That system brought 4G or 5G cellular and LEO satellite connectivity to those living in broadband deserts.
ON THE RECORD
“Waiting copays for telehealth services and launching this grant program are both important steps forward to ensure veterans have access to health care when and where they need it,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement.
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.