Our Members
The Alliance for Connected Care aims to:
Demonstrate the importance of Connected Care as a tool for improved quality and efficiency.
Build significant and high-level support for Connected Care among leaders in Congress and the Administration.
Enable more telehealth to support new models of care.
Lift geographic and site restrictions for telehealth in Medicare.
Establish a consensus-based, standardized definition of Connected Care to advance with policymakers.
Alliance News
Alliance Requests CMS to Consider Administrative Burden on Telehealth Practitioners
The Alliance for Connected Care sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding ongoing decisions by CMS that will dramatically increase administrative burden for both practitioners offering telehealth services and CMS itself through the requirements for the reporting of multiple addresses for a clinician offering telehealth. CMS currently allows telehealth practitioners who offer a telehealth service from their home or another location to report the location in which they can offer in-person care on their billing forms. This continuity in the billing of services while offering more flexible care has enabled telehealth to expand [...]
Letter on House E&C Temporary Two-Year Extension
On behalf of the Alliance for Connected Care and the many patients and clinicians we represent, we write to support the Committee’s leadership in working to avert a pending telehealth cliff for Medicare beneficiaries and support bipartisan passage of the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024 (H.R.7623). The Alliance for Connected Care sent a letter to House Energy & Commerce Committee leadership in support of averting a pending telehealth cliff for Medicare beneficiaries.
Finally – Action on Prescribing Through Telehealth
Last week, we finally saw a proposed rule – “Telemedicine Prescribing of Controlled Substances When the Practitioner and the Patient Have not had a Prior In-Person Medical Evaluation” arrive at OMB. We expect that this proposed rule will avert the current end of telehealth prescribing flexibility on December 31, 2024. However, there remains significant risk of patients losing access to care due to the rulemaking. We also saw two major policy developments in this space last week, outlining the opportunities and risks for telehealth access. First - our nation’s foremost medical societies and behavioral health voices called on the Administration [...]
Mental Health Groups Sent Letter on Schedule IIN Non-Narcotic Prescribing
Mental Health Groups Sent Letter on Schedule IIN Non-Narcotic Prescribing Mental health groups are pushing the agency to allow Schedule IIN non-narcotic drugs to be prescribed without an in-person visit. Those include stimulants used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. A coalition of mental health groups, including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Kennedy Forum, wrote to the DEA on Tuesday, saying that not allowing such drugs to be prescribed without an in-person visit as it previously proposed would be a mistake. The Alliance was pleased to support the effort around this letter. [...]
Health Affairs: We Need National Policies For Voice-Based Telepsychiatry
Health Affairs: We Need National Policies For Voice-Based Telepsychiatry As of April 2024, no federal legislation or guidance has been implemented to establish permanence for telepsychiatry, and specifically for voice-based visits. With all telehealth flexibilities expiring at the end of 2024, in this piece, authors advocate for the permanent adoption and coverage of VBT, illustrate its importance using patient data, and provide recommendations on measures to incorporate it into policies to promote equity. Additionally, the authors encourage national adoption of universal terminology representing voice-based telehealth visits, defined as visits that take place through live real-time vocal interactions without the [...]