Senate Finance Committee: Mental Health Parity Discussion Draft Senate Finance Committee Chair Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member Crapo (R-ID), and Sens. Bennet (D-CO) and Burr (R-NC) released the fifth and final legislative discussion draft as part of the Committee’s bipartisan mental health initiative. This discussion draft included policies aimed at improving mental health parity [...]
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 [...]
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Medicare Telehealth Trends The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released new data that highlights trends in the use of telehealth services between January 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022. The data allows for analysis of telehealth utilization by quarter, state, and various demographic characteristics. The data [...]
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation: Flexibilities in Controlled Substances Prescribing and Dispensing During the COVID-19 Pandemic The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a report on flexibilities in controlled substances prescribing, including via telehealth, during the pandemic. The federal government issued a range of flexibilities [...]
HHS OIG: Certain Medicare Beneficiaries, Such as Urban and Hispanic Beneficiaries, Were More Likely Than Others To Use Telehealth During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report which Expands on the telehealth utilization report released earlier this year; and [...]
OIG Report: Medicare Telehealth Services During the First Year of the Pandemic: Program Integrity Risks The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General released a report which describes Providers’ billing for telehealth services; and Identifies ways to safeguard Medicare from fraud, waste, and abuse related to telehealth. The full report can [...]
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy: ONDCP Announces Report on Improving Telehealth Services for Substance Use Disorder The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released the Telehealth and Substance Use Disorder Services in the Era of Covid-19: Review and Recommendations report. The report by the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy [...]
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA): Evaluation of the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program: 2019 Cohort 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 [...]
HHS Office of the Inspector General: Spring 2022 Semiannual Report to Congress, Highlights Telehealth Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries 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 [...]
Government Accountability Office: National Strategy Needed to Guide Federal Efforts to Reduce Digital Divide 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 [...]