The Alliance advocates to remove barriers and restriction for the use of telehealth. See below for a few of our top federal priorities. See here for a full list.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, DEA granted a temporary exception to allow practitioners to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth. DEA and HHS released a secondary extension of the current telemedicine flexibilities for prescribing controlled medications through December 31, 2024.
It has been reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is working on a proposed rule that would significantly impact patients’ ability access certain prescriptions through telemedicine. The Alliance for Connected Care led more than 340 organizations in letters to Congress and the White House, requesting them to intervene to ensure ongoing access to virtual prescribing for patients and providers of certain controlled substances.
The Alliance for Connected Care is leading an all-hands on deck advocacy effort around this issue. Please reach out to Rikki Cheung (rikki.cheung@connectwithcare.org) for additional information.
See more information on the Alliance’s advocacy on this here.
Medicare coverage of RPM is expanding in the fee schedule, and we expect a number of additional developments in the RPM space in 2024 – including advocacy around changes to regulatory requirements around codes. Most recently, the AMA has considered major changes to remote monitoring codes.
The Alliance continues to address regulatory barriers to RPM. Find more information here.
During the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) moved to allow practitioners to render telehealth services from their home without reporting their home address on their Medicare enrollment while continuing to bill from their currently enrolled location. CMS extended this waiver through December 31, 2024 in the Calendar Year (CY) 2024 Physician Fee Schedule final rule.
In the Calendar Year (CY) 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, CMS proposes, through CY 2025, to continue to permit the distant site practitioner to use their currently enrolled practice location instead of their home address when providing telehealth services from their home. However, the ability to bill a currently enrolled location does not alleviate barriers for virtual-only practitioners without a physical practice location to report other than their homes.
Find out more here.
Section 3701 of the CARES Act created a temporary safe harbor that allowed employers and health plans to provide pre-deductible coverage of telehealth services for individuals with a high deductible health plan coupled with a health savings account (HDHP-HSA). The safe harbor allowed individuals with these plans to access telehealth services before their annual deductible was met, ensuring that employers and plans could support patients that were leveraging virtual care to access a range of critical health care services during the pandemic.
The Alliance catalyzed policy changes to allow for this HDHP telehealth flexibility at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and has been successful in ensuring these benefits remain intact through December 31, 2024.
Find out more here.
Federal Telehealth Legislation Progress
House Ways & Means Committee: The Preserving Telehealth, Hospital, and Ambulance Access Act (H.R. 8261) advanced out of full Committee, as amended, by a vote of 41-0. Guardrail: Durable Medical Equipment Master List, and Study on High Cost Clinical Diagnostics Labs
House Energy & Commerce Committee: The Telehealth Modernization Act (H.R. 7623) advanced out of full Committee, as amended, by a vote of 41-0. Guardrail: W&M guardrails + modifiers for incident-to and virtual-only
Next Steps: The House Ways & Means Committee and House Energy & Commerce Committee need to resolve any differences between the two packages before it could move to the House floor.
History of Medicare Telehealth
Statutory Restrictions under Section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act
Section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m) restricts utilization of and reimbursement for telehealth and remote patient monitoring services in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) program by narrowly defining conditions around eligibility for coverage. As a result, the benefits offered by these advanced technologies are limited to certain groups of beneficiaries. A primary limitation is the originating site restriction, which requires the patient receiving the telehealth service to be in specific sites and geographic regions to qualify for Medicare coverage. Generally, covered telehealth services must be provided in rural areas as determined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. 1395m)
Originating Site Requirements
Location of the patient when the service being delivered via a telecommunications system
- Geographic eligibility: Eligible locations for the originating site must be identified either as:
- A rural Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) located either outside of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) or within a rural census tract; or
- A county outside of an MSA.
- Each calendar year, the geographic eligibility of an originating site is established based on the status of the area as of December 31st of the prior calendar year.
- Eligible facilities include:
- Physicians’ offices; Hospitals; Critical Access Hospitals (CAH); Rural Health Clinics; Federally Qualified Health Centers; Hospital-based or CAH-based Renal Dialysis Centers (including satellites); Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF); and Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC).
Distant Site Requirements
Location where the physician or other licensed practitioner delivering the service is located when the time the service is provided via a telecommunications system
- Distant site cannot be the same location as the originating site.
- Providers serving at the distant site must be licensed to provide the service under state law.
- Eligible physician or practitioner includes:
- Physicians; Nurse practitioners (NPs); Physicians assistants (PAs); Nurse-midwives; Clinical nurse specialists (CNS); Certified registered nurse anesthetists; Clinical psychologists (CP) and clinical social workers (CSW); or Registered dietitian or nutrition professional.
- Does NOT include a federally qualified health center (FQHC) or rural health center (RHC).
Temporary Medicare Flexibilities
Will expire after December 31, 2024, as per CAA, 2023.
- FQHCs and RHCs can serve as a distant site provider for non-behavioral/mental telehealth services
- Medicare patients can receive telehealth services in their home
- There are no geographic restrictions for originating site for non-behavioral/mental telehealth services
- Some non-behavioral/mental telehealth services can be delivered using audio-only communication platforms
- An in-person visit within six months of an initial behavioral/mental telehealth service, and annually thereafter, is not required
- Telehealth services can be provided by all eligible Medicare providers
Eligible Technologies
Eligible telecommunications systems must use interactive audio and video equipment that results in real-time communication between the provider and beneficiary. Store- and-forward technologies, such as those that allow for the electronic transmission of digital images, like pictures and x-rays, or prerecorded videos, are permitted only in federal demonstration programs conducted in Alaska and Hawaii.
Eligible Services
Eligible services include, but are not limited to, office or other outpatient visits, professional consultations, individual psychotherapy, pharmacologic management and individual and group medical nutrition therapy services.
Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Codes and Billing
- The specific telehealth-delivered services eligible for Medicare reimbursement are identified by Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) billing codes. Each year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) accepts submissions from the public to add or delete CPT codes for reimbursement for telehealth-delivered services.
- CY2015 Changes: On October 31 2014, CMS finalized a rule adding seven new telemedicine billing codes to the 2015 Medicare physician fee schedule. These new codes are for psychotherapy services, prolonged office visits, annual wellness visits, and related matters. In addition, the rule increased by 0.8 percent Medicare payments to telehealth originating sites in 2015.
Reimbursement Rates
Provider reimbursement rates for telehealth-delivered services are the same as the current Physician Fee Schedule. In addition, the originating site is eligible to receive a facility fee. Claims for reimbursement are submitted with the appropriate CPT code for the professional service provided and the telehealth modifier “GT” –“via interactive audio and video telecommunications system.”
The COVID-19 Pandemic
Secretary Azar used his authority under the Public Health Service Act to declare a public health emergency across the entire United States on January 31, 2020 giving HHS additional emergency powers to respond to the coronavirus. On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared a national emergency, unlocking additional powers, under section 1135 of the Social Security Act.
On March 5, 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, waiving restrictions on telehealth in Medicare fee-for-service to enable more seniors to access care from the safety of their own homes during the public health emergency.
On March 21, 2020, Congress subsequently passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, providing even greater flexibility for telehealth services.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, CMS has made permanent certain telehealth changes for Medicare:
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) can serve as a distant site provider for behavioral/mental telehealth services
- Medicare patients can receive telehealth services for behavioral/mental health care in their home
- There are no geographic restrictions for originating site for behavioral/mental telehealth services
- Behavioral/mental telehealth services can be delivered using audio-only communication platforms
- Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs) are eligible originating sites for telehealth
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: CMS Releases Hospital OPPS Proposed Rule (7/15) – CMS released the CY2023 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and ASC Payment System Proposed Rule, which makes policy and payment updates for hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgical centers. CMS is seeking comment on several measures under consideration for the new Rural Emergency Hospital Quality Reporting Program, including rural telehealth services. CMS is also proposing behavioral health services furnished remotely by clinical staff of hospital outpatient departments, including staff of critical access hospitals (CAHs), through the use of telecommunications technology to beneficiaries in their homes, to be considered as covered outpatient services for which payment is made under the OPPS. For more information, see this general fact sheet and a fact sheet on Rural Emergency Hospitals.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: CMS Released the CY2023 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule to Expand Access to High-Quality Care (7/7) – CMS issued the Calendar Year 2023 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule, which would significantly expand access to behavioral health services, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), cancer screening, and dental care — particularly in rural and underserved areas.
Office of Management and Budget: Audio-Only Telemedicine for Buprenorphine Initiation for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (7/5) – The Office of Management and Budget received and began to review a proposed rule entitled, “Audio-Only Telemedicine for Buprenorphine Initiation for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder”. This rule would clarify the rights and obligations for DATA-waived registrants when prescribing buprenorphine to patients with Opioid Use Disorder pursuant to a telemedicine encounter which utilizes audio-only telecommunication systems.
House Appropriations Committee: FY 2023 House Appropriations Committee Report (6/29) – On June 29, the House Appropriations Committee released the Report for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related Agencies for Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations. The report includes specific instructions with respect to the appropriated amounts. The report includes several telehealth provisions, which would ensure patients can continue to access care through this modality and that data about its usage can be adequately collected to inform future policy. The Alliance published a blog with key telehealth report language, which can be found here. The House Appropriations Committee passed this bill on June 30, and a full House vote is expected in July.
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA): Evaluation of the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program: 2019 Cohort (6/9) – The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released the second annual report evaluating the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program, the first cohort of which completed its first year of implementation last August. The program uses a network approach to coordinate and improve telehealth services to increase access to care in rural areas, among others. Program awardees laid the groundwork for expanded telehealth, which they consistently identified as a major focus area to improve maternal health access. Implementation delays have pushed such efforts into the next implementation year, however all three networks made progress on telehealth initiatives during this first implementation year.
HHS Office of the Inspector General: Spring 2022 Semiannual Report to Congress, Highlights Telehealth Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries (6/6) -The HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released its Spring 2022 Semiannual Report to Congress, which highlights nearly $3 billion in expected recoveries as a result of HHS-OIG audits and investigations and provides an overview of HHS-OIG activities from October 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022. Notably, the report highlights the OIG finding that from March through December 2020, 84 percent of Medicare beneficiaries received telehealth services from providers with whom they had an established relationship, among other findings.
Government Accountability Office: National Strategy Needed to Guide Federal Efforts to Reduce Digital Divide (5/31) – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report on broadband, which recommends the White House to develop and implement a national broadband strategy with clear roles, goals, objectives, and performance measures to support better management of fragmented, overlapping federal broadband programs and synchronize coordination efforts. Increased broadband access would help underserved populations virtually access essential health care services, such as telehealth. (Note that the Biden Administration announced a major broadband initiative several weeks ago that is likely not captured)
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention: National Health Statistics Report Shows Telemedicine Use in Children Age 0-17 (5/10) – The CDC found that, in the second half of 2020, only 14.1 percent of children used telehealth due to the pandemic, but use was higher among those with asthma, a developmental condition, or a disability. In total, about 12.6 million children, or 17.5 percent, used telehealth in the past 12 months, which included a period before the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 10.2 million children, or 14.1 percent, used telehealth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. About 23.5 percent of children with asthma used telehealth because of the pandemic compared with 13.6 percent of those without asthma. Similarly, 32.5 percent and 29.8 percent of children with a current developmental condition and a disability, respectively, used telemedicine due to the pandemic.
Health Affairs: Medicare and Telehealth – Delivering on Innovation’s Promise for Equity, Quality, Access and Sustainability (5/1) – The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly changed health care. Policy makers and health care leaders must evaluate the lessons learned from the pandemic and leverage telehealth innovations with an eye toward how such changes can advance health equity; drive high-quality, high-value, person-centered care; and promote affordability and sustainability. This report explores these topics in more detail.
HHS OIG Releases New Report on Medicare Telehealth Services During the Pandemic (3/17) – On March 17, 2022, the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a new report examining the use of telehealth services in Medicare during the first year of the pandemic, declaring that telehealth was critical during this time period for Medicare beneficiaries. The report also looks at the growth of telehealth services, the types of telehealth services most commonly used, and the extent to which beneficiaries also used in-person services.
ASPE Report: Medicare Beneficiaries’ Use of Telehealth in 2020: Trends by Beneficiary Characteristics and Location (1/3) – Telehealth services expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) in 2021, this Issue Brief analyzes national trends in telehealth utilization across all payers and examines how use of video-enabled vs. audio-only telehealth services differ across patient populations. The study finds notable disparities by race, ethnicity, income, age, and insurance status in access to video-enabled telehealth.
Alliance Leads a Letter Supporting the Benefit Expansion for Workers Act of 2022 (6/30) – The Alliance for Connected Care led a letter with other leading telehealth groups supporting the Benefit Expansion for Workers Act of 2022, which would allow employers to provide telehealth or other remote care services to employees ineligible for an employer-sponsored group health plan.
Alliance Applauds Inclusion of Telehealth Provisions in the FY 2023 House Appropriations Committee Report (6/29) – The Alliance was thrilled to see the inclusion of several telehealth provisions in this report, which ensure patients can continue to access care through this modality and data about its usage can be adequately collected to inform future policy. Below is a topline of the key telehealth provisions included in the report language.
Telehealth Resource Centers Support Letter (5/31) – On May 31, more than 80 organizations called on Congressional Appropriators to increase funding for Telehealth Resource Centers. This increase in funding would provide a critical boost to the TRCs, which have experienced a high of an 800% increase in demand for telehealth assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic across the nation, yet have been level-funded since 2006. Learn more about this request.
Patients and Practitioners Agree – Telehealth Is Important for Patient Access, Health Care Workforce (4/6) – The Alliance for Connected Care released a major survey of both healthcare patients and practitioners conducted by Morning Consult on the Alliance’s behalf. The poll asked patients and practitioners about their telehealth usage, telehealth experiences, their use of care across state lines, and the workforce implications of these developments.
Read more here.
Featured: Alliance for Connected Care Applauds the House for Advancing Telehealth Coverage for Seniors
WASHINGTON D.C. July 27, 2022 – The Alliance for Connected Care (the Alliance) applauds U.S. House lawmakers for their commitment to protecting telehealth access through the passage of the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act of 2022 (H.R. 4040). This legislation would ensure that Medicare beneficiaries continue to have access to telehealth until at least December 31, 2024.
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