We are facing a global healthcare crisis unlike any in our recent history. Within the span of a few short weeks, we saw our lives and practices drastically change. COVID-19 has fundamentally altered how medical care is delivered today and possibly for many years to come. We as clinicians need to rise to the challenge to provide […]
A new bill before Congress aims to increase funding for telehealth expansion programs that target improved broadband connectivity. The Accelerating Connected Care and Education Support Services on the Internet (ACCESS the Internet) Act, introduced this past week by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Cornyn (R-TX), proposes to add $400 million to Federal Communications Commission’s COVID-19 […]
Rightfully so, the coronavirus pandemic has shone the spotlight on front-line medical professionals who continue to risk their lives treating patients. In the background and often working from home, though, are billing professionals whose jobs increasingly provide critical revenue for medical facilities, from single physician practices to multi-hospital health systems. The American Hospital Association estimated […]
The need for virtual treatment in the midst of this pandemic is primed to rewrite the rulebook on health for years to come. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent nation-wide lockdowns, telehealth has been rewriting all the rules on the way healthcare has historically been conducted. Virtual health visits shot up 50% in […]
Not even six months ago, telemedicine served as a supplement to a hospital’s digital strategy. It was more of a novel offering, considered a nice-to-have or an add-on — not the norm — only used under rare and extraordinary circumstances. Of course, that was before a pandemic turned life, as we know it, on its […]
In its calendar year 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“MPFS”) proposed rule, released August 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has proposed to make permanent certain telehealth changes that have been implemented in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency (“PHE”). The proposals include: Permanent Telehealth Services Additions – Permanently adding certain services to the […]
While telehealth adoption has skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, the use of remote patient monitoring devices has also climbed among patients, signaling a shift that some physicians say points to the need for device insurance coverage, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Cardiology patients at Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network have been increasingly turning to remote monitoring devices […]
CY 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule On August 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Calendar Year (CY) 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (PFS Proposed Rule). The agency’s proposals relating to telehealth and remote services are particularly noteworthy given the central role telehealth has taken in response to the […]
— Any meaningful reform will require action from congress While the Trump administration has asserted that an executive order and a proposed rule issued this week will expand access to telemedicine for all Americans, outside experts say such promises won’t be realized anytime soon. The executive branch lacks the needed authority on its own, they told MedPage Today, and the […]
President Trump issued an Executive Order (the “Order”) on August 3, 2020, to improve rural health and telehealth access. The Order tasks several federal agencies with developing new programs and plans to address longstanding federal barriers to fuller telehealth access in rural areas, including payments, infrastructure, and policy. According to the Order, the Centers for Medicare and […]
The executive order calls upon HHS to cement expanded Medicare telehealth coverage and improve rural health care infrastructure. A new executive order from the White House is pushing to expand telehealth coverage and infrastructure, as well as make health care in rural communities more accessible beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid […]
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic since mid-March, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) worked quickly to issue emergency guidance that allowed temporary expansion of payment for telehealth services and provided certain flexibility in providing telehealth services. The COVID pandemic has significantly increased awareness of the benefits of telehealth, as many patients have […]
US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on August 3 that aims to expand telehealth access to Medicare beneficiaries beyond the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE) period. The executive order focuses on rural healthcare providers in particular, noting the difficulties patients in rural areas face in obtaining accessible, high-quality healthcare services over the years. The […]
On August 4, CMS posted a proposed rule on CY 2021 Payment Policies, which included important updates about the expansion of Medicare covered telehealth services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This follows on the heels of Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar’s renewal of the federal public health emergency (“PHE”) on July 23. […]
As part of ACOG’s ongoing advocacy efforts to ensure expanded access to telehealth services, we endorsed the Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act of 2020 H.R. (7663). This bill, endorsed by the House Telehealth Caucus with bipartisan support, would remove outdated Medicare restrictions on telehealth, and expand coverage after the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends. This ensures obstetrician-gynecologists […]