Top Accomplishments 2022

Building off of the transformation of telehealth access since 2020, the Alliance has continued to drive the advocacy steps needed for permanent telehealth expansion. We are excited to successfully hold on to important expansions and continue progress in 2023.

Alliance Top Accomplishments

1 A temporary two-year extension of all Medicare telehealth in the fiscal year (FY) 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill was a major Alliance accomplishment. The Alliance has been calling for a two-year extension since 2021 – citing the need to create for predictability for patients and clinicians while we continue to work toward permanent telehealth authorization.

The Alliance lobbied heavily for this expansion, led numerous advocacy letters with hundreds of signers, and most importantly – built the evidence base needed to support policy action.
Notably, this expansion also includes a two-year delay of patient-harming in-person requirements on mental health in Medicare.
On top of all this – it was the second legislative extension this year, expanding upon the short-term extension we secured in the spring of 2022.

2 A crucial two-year extension of commercial market telehealth flexibilities for individuals and families with high deductible health plans coupled with a health savings accounts (HDHP-HSA) allowing employers and health plans have to provide pre-deductible coverage of telehealth services. This policy is a game changer for the 32 million Americans who would otherwise have to think twice about out-of-pocket costs in accessing care.

The Alliance led other groups on numerous comment letters, supported Congressional member advocacy letters, and continued to build the evidence base for how these important provisions impact individuals and families.
Progress in this space is particularly notable because major wins in spring 2022 and December 2022 reversed a failure to extend this policy in December 2021.

3 Major progress in advancing cross-state licensure for telehealth and the need to reform outdated licensure laws that impose barriers in access to care for patients. The Alliance continues to be regularly consulted as an authority on these challenges and opportunities to advance them.

The Alliance helped drive forward a new Model Telehealth Law with the Uniform Law Commission telehealth working group, which published its Uniform Telehealth Act in July 2022.
The Alliance actively supported a number of state legislative initiatives and made headway on related areas, such as ensuring clinical trials are able to be managed across state lines – which is now recognized as an important access exception by the Federation of State Medical Boards. We are looking forward to significant new wins in 2023.

See here or below for the Alliance’s top accomplishments in 2022.

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