ATA is calling on Congress to meet the telehealth deadline as it prepares for Trump’s term in office
The American Telemedicine Association says it expects bipartisan support for telehealth and virtual care services to continue through the final days of the Biden administration and the transition to the Trump administration on January 20, 2025.
But ATA is once again urging congressional leaders to officially expand telehealth flexibility before the end of 2024.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Making primary care, behavioral health, and other healthcare services available via telehealth during the pandemic has changed the way healthcare providers work around the world. But if regulatory changes don’t happen soon, flexibility will run out in the U.S., which would result in Medicare and many private insurance patients losing access to virtual care services they have come to rely on.
“It is our sincere hope that congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle will take swift action to advance a bill expanding telehealth flexibility and send it to the President’s desk for signature before the end of the year Biden,” said Kyle Zebley, senior vice president of public policy. the ATA and Executive Director of ATA Action in a statement after the election.
Patients and providers need assurance that the pathways to care provided by telehealth, which has become a hallmark of a modern health care system, will last in the long term, he said.
“We cannot underestimate the urgency of expanding this flexibility to avoid interrupting necessary and often life-saving care for millions of patients,” Zebley said.
ATA and ATA Action, a nonprofit trade association, also said that in addition to a policy expansion, they also want to work with federal government policymakers to expand access to virtual care in the future.
“President-elect Trump and his administration were strong proponents of telehealth during his first time in the White House,” Zebley said. “We look forward to working with the Trump Administration to ensure that access to needed care remains available to all Americans and that telehealth services become a permanent part of our nation’s health care system.”
THE BIG TREND
The ATA and ATA Action previously noted that, without congressional action before January 1, 2025, regulations Oversight of providers’ use of telehealth will be significantly scaled back as broader access to telehealth services under the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 ends.
In August, the groups sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid asking for an extension or change in law to make the telehealth allowances in the 2025 Physician Fee Schedule permanent.
“These outdated restrictions would wipe out more than half a decade of meaningful and substantial progress, and returning to these old restrictions will severely hinder access to telehealth services that millions of Americans now rely on,” Zebley said at the time.
While CMS has limited authority to maintain telehealth flexibility, it has finalized new Advanced Primary Care Management codes for 2025, a move that could lead some payer industry leaders to hybrid payments in primary care under Medicare. However, medical groups have protest annual payment cuts for doctors.
Additional issues, such as expanded licensing flexibility allowing providers to treat patients in other states and a registry for prescribing controlled substances via telemedicine, are still being worked out at the federal level.
Note that other countries are moving forward with telehealth in the post-pandemic era, such as China, which is developing standards for virtual primary care.
ON THE RECORD
“Our thanks go to the Biden-Harris administration, which has also shown unwavering support for telehealth over the past four years,” Zebley 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.