A group of US Senators have submitted a bill that seeks to permanently extend Medicare coverage for particular telehealth services even after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
What is the aim and focus of The Protection Rural Telehealth Access Act (S.1988)?
Improving access to and coverage of connected health services especially in rural areas of US.
Continue covering wide range of emergency measures enacted, owing to the challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic.
List of points covered in the bill as mentioned in the press release:
Payment parity for audio-only telehealth services for appointments that are clinically appropriate.
Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) would be allowed to bill directly for telehealth services.
Patients will get access to care from their home as geographical restrictions in the Medicare coverage to be waived off.
In order to extend telehealth services permanently allow Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) to serve as distant sites.
Coverage for asynchronous telehealth services to be expanded.
The bill was introduced by Joni Ernst (R-IA), Jerry Moran (R-Kan), Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said that the COVID-19 pandemic stressed the effective and efficient access to care that telehealth provides to patients, particularly in rural communities.
Rural areas in the United States, especially in West Virginia, many Americans don’t have access to affordable, and reliable broadband. This is essential for telehealth video consultations, said Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) in the press release.
He continued to share that instead, many rural Americans use audio-only telehealth appointments to access care, which are now equally reimbursed after he fought to ascertain that healthcare professionals are fairly reimbursed for the hard work, they put in. When they started to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the COVID-19 pandemic, they immediately ensured that these telehealth flexibilities become permanent.
Their bills made sure that the rural telehealth providers can offer rural Americans the quality they deserve by removing restrictions on the usage of telehealth options. Also, ensuring that doctors get reimbursed for services they offer to the patients from the comfort of their homes.
Telehealth advocates stress the fact that it should be the priority of the Congress to ensure telehealth access continues even after the public health emergency ends – to avoid plunging off the so-called “telehealth cliff”.
Federal legislators have introduced a number of bills that ensures just that.