Healthcare Informatics | July 16, 2018
Excerpt:
The CMS proposal brought a mix of enthusiasm and concerns from groups advocating for greater usage of telehealth. “What they have done is creative and brilliant, and it goes further than CMS has ever gone previously to ensure that seniors have services everyone else in the marketplace has,” said Krista Drobac, executive director of the Alliance for Connected Care. On the other hand, she expressed concern that CMS paying for brief e-visits is going to create an environment where providers are going to weigh whether it is worth it to invest in telehealth systems. “What they will probably find is that the reimbursement is not enough to transform their practice and make telehealth part of their work flow,” she said.
Drobac believes CMS has gone as far as it can go within the existing law. She said Congress needs to give the Secretary the authority to waive the telehealth restrictions on all provider codes.