The New England Journal of Medicine: Informing the Debate about Telemedicine Reimbursement — What Do We Need to Know? Researchers from Harvard Medical School and RAND Corporation shared their perspectives on telehealth, including the support for extending current telehealth flexibilities for two years. The researchers note that the effect of telehealth needs to [...]
Inside Telehealth: Most Midterm Voters Support Free Telehealth Pre-Deductible (11/17) – The Alliance to Fight for Healthcare conducted an election night poll, which found that an overwhelming majority of midterm voters want telehealth services to be covered before individuals meet their deductibles. Of voters who supported Democrats in the midterm elections and were polled, [...]
NEJM Catalyst: CareConnect: Adapting a Virtual Urgent Care Model to Provide Buprenorphine Transitional Care Medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) such as buprenorphine are the gold standard for treatment of OUD, but patients face many barriers accessing these medications. To address this gap, a team at Penn Medicine created CareConnect, which leveraged new [...]
On November 15, 2022, the Alliance for Connected Care and more than 350 organizations signed a letter urging Congress to extend the telehealth provision that allows employers the flexibility to offer telehealth services pre-deductible to employees with a high deductible health plan coupled with a Health Savings Account (HDHP-HSA). The letter reminds congressional leaders that without [...]
JAMA Network Open: Comparison of Visit Rates Before vs After Telehealth Expansion Among Patients with Mental Health Diagnoses Treated at Federally Qualified Health Centers According to this research letter, high telehealth availability at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) was associated with better care engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic for patients enrolled in Medicaid [...]
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: CMS Released Medicaid and CHIP Access Data Brief CMS released a short data brief on the general utilization of mental health services for Medicaid and CHIP. Specifically, the rate of mental health service delivery via telehealth increased greatly during the COVID-19 PHE, peaking in April 2020 but [...]
American Heart Association: An Overview of Telehealth in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA), an Alliance advisory board member, released a scientific statement which reviews definitions pertinent to telehealth discussions, summarizes the effect of telehealth utilization on cardiovascular and peripheral vascular disease [...]
American Medical Association: AMA Issues Blueprint for Optimizing Digitally Enabled Care AMA released a Blueprint for Optimizing Digitally Enabled Care, which describes six pillars that can help optimize digital health practices. AMA notes that investments, technology adoption, and patient needs play a significant role in how digitally enabled care evolves and how it can be [...]
This update includes: Alliance for Connected Care Telehealth Data Event White House Office of Science and Technology Policy blog post asking for Medicare telehealth data and notable research and news developments
Alliance and Others Send Letter to DEA to Advance Proposed Rules on the Special Registration Telemedicine The Alliance for Connected Care and more than 300 participants sent a letter urging the DEA to advance the proposed rules on the Special Registration for Telemedicine under the Ryan Haight Act to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). [...]