Federal Agencies

Key Considerations for Permanently Integrating Telehealth Coverage

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Why Telehealth and Continuous Remote Patient Monitoring Has Staying Power Beyond COVID-19

The spread of COVID-19 has caused an explosion in telehealth consultation and is catalyzing the use of remote patient monitoring (RPM) thanks to an acceleration of reimbursement from commercial and government health insurers (payers) during the pandemic. Look no further than statistics from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that show telehealth visits during the pandemic surpassed 11 million through mid-September of this year. Before CMS expanded coverage of telehealth for seniors in […]

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Relief bill provisions complicate care for homebound patients

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Relief bill provisions complicate care for homebound patients

The $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill signed into law by President Trump Dec. 27 offers Medicare coverage for telemental health and rural hospitals and funding for broadband connectivity, but criticism of the bill remains. The reason: the bill doesn’t extend the emergency telehealth access and the coverage provisions offered early on during the pandemic. Lobbying to make at […]

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An Asian Doctor Who Is Remotely Consulting With A Patient. Teleh

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FCC Requests Public Comments for $250M COVID-19 Telehealth Program Round 2 Fund Distribution

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau announced Wednesday that it is requesting public comment for Round 2 distribution of an additional $249.95 million for its COVID-19 Telehealth Program; the Round 2 funding comes from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The FCC started the program in March 2020 with $200 million of CARES Act funding in order […]

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Seismic Shifts Occurring in Care Delivery

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Seismic Shifts Occurring in Care Delivery

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly shifted our ideas about what is possible at home. Many people continue to work from home, others switched to virtual school, and the video chats with friends and family that became common last March remain a regular part of life. The way we think about the delivery of health care has […]

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FCC Eyes Support for Telehealth, RPM Projects Serving Rural America

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FCC gets $250M to relaunch COVID-19 telehealth program, seeks public input

The FCC is seeking advice on how to distribute the second round of its COVID-19 telehealth program, which recently received an additional $249.95 million in funds.  The additional funding was finalized Dec. 27 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The money will support the COVID-19 telehealth program, which the FCC established last April to equip healthcare providers with […]

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HHS expands COVID-19 public health emergency until April, preserving key telehealth flexibilities

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HHS expands COVID-19 public health emergency until April, preserving key telehealth flexibilities

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has extended the public health emergency surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic until April, extending key waivers for regulations on a variety of topics such as telehealth. The public health emergency declaration was originally scheduled to expire Jan. 21. HHS Secretary Alex Azar extended the emergency Thursday, according to […]

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Female doctor working with her laptop

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CMS Revises 2021 Remote Patient Monitoring Rules, Issues Correction

CMS just issued a correction to its guidance on 2021 Medicare rules for remote physiologic monitoring (RPM) services. The correction is effective January 1, 2021 and revises the preamble commentary in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, previously published on December 1, 2020. It adds language that was inadvertently deleted from the Final Rule, summarizing and responding some […]

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2021 Could be a Busy Year for Telehealth Adoption and Sustainability

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2021 Could be a Busy Year for Telehealth Adoption and Sustainability

As the new year begins and the nation looks to tackle COVID-19 and move on, telehealth will be front and center in a lot of conversations from the halls of Congress to the patient’s home. By Eric Wicklund January 25, 2021 – Telehealth policy and new methods for connected care will figure prominently in healthcare during 2021, and Xtelligent […]

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CMS

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CMS Revises 2021 Remote Patient Monitoring Rules, Issues Correction

CMS just issued a correction to its guidance on 2021 Medicare rules for remote physiologic monitoring (RPM) services. The correction is effective January 1, 2021 and revises the preamble commentary in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, previously published on December 1, 2020. It adds language that was inadvertently deleted from the Final Rule, summarizing and responding some […]

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Mahmood Kazemi A remote revolution in diabetes care

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Remote Patient Monitoring Goes Mainstream, And Healthcare Transformation Follows

Remote patient monitoring has finally gone mainstream. After more than two decades of cultivation – from cardiac telemetry to Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuffs and now to wearable devices – the technological progress of remote patient monitoring (RPM) has finally intersected with other trends in medicine such as telehealth (and of course COVID) to make this […]

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Telehealth Congressional Support Letter

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Telehealth Congressional Support Letter

December 9, 2020 Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority LeaderMcCarthy: The undersigned organizations represent millions of individuals facing serious, acute and chronic healthconditions across the country. Our organizations have a unique perspective on what individuals need toprevent disease, cure illness and manage chronic health conditions. The diversity of our groups […]

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Executive Summary: Tracking Telehealth Changes State-by-State in Response to COVID-19 – December 2020

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Executive Summary: Tracking Telehealth Changes State-by-State in Response to COVID-19 – December 2020

[co-authors: Adrienne Peng, and Michelle Fong] As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the United States, states, payers, and providers are looking for ways to expand access to telehealth services. Telehealth is an essential tool in ensuring patients are able to access the healthcare services they need in as safe a manner as possible. In order […]

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CMS Clarifies 2021 PFS Reimbursements for Remote Patient Monitoring

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CMS Clarifies 2021 PFS Reimbursements for Remote Patient Monitoring

In an update posted this week in the Federal Register, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has amended the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule to clarify reimbursement for remote patient monitoring programs. By Eric Wicklund January 20, 2021 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has made corrections to the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule, opening the door […]

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OIG audits telehealth home services, studies HHAs’ pandemic strategies

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OIG audits telehealth home services, studies HHAs’ pandemic strategies

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General recently has disclosed it is conducting an audit of home health services that were provided as telehealth during COVID-19. In addition, it is studying the challenges home health agencies (HHAs) have faced in providing care during the pandemic.   In recent months, the Centers for […]

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Omnibus Appropriations Package – 15 Key Provisions for Healthcare Providers

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Omnibus Appropriations Package – 15 Key Provisions for Healthcare Providers

Passed by Congress Dec. 21, 2020, and signed by President Donald Trump Dec. 27, 2020, the $1.4 trillion omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R. 133), includes numerous statutory provisions that directly affect healthcare providers. The spending bill funds the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, 2021, and provides a $300 […]

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