eHI commentary on Senator Lamar Alexander's white paper Preparing for the Next Pandemic.

Letter to House and Senate on telehealth. 

House Ways & Means Committee Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force held a Bipartisan Roundtable entitled Examining the Role of Telehealth During COVID-19 and Beyond.

Download eHI's summary of the roundtable below.

On Monday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Calendar Year 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program proposed rule. The rule sets Medicare payment policies beginning January 1, 2021 and includes significant health IT-related proposals. eHI staff has prepared a summary chart of health IT-related proposals which you can find here below. For the CMS press release, proposed rule, and fact sheets, click here.

On Monday, August 3rd, eHI, along with more than 200 stakeholder organizations, sent a letter of endorsement for the Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act of 2020 (HR 7663).

The legislation, sponsored by Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA) and co-sponsored by David Schweikert (R-AZ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Bill Johnson (R-OH), and Doris Matsui (D-CA) takes critical steps toward ensuring all Medicare beneficiaries have continued access to telehealth services after the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) period.

You can read the letter supporting HR 7663 below.

This ASPE issue brief examines changes in Medicare fee-for-service primary care visits and use of telehealth at the start of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). This brief seeks to address the issue of how and whether the Medicare telehealth flexibilities introduced to address the COVID-19 pandemic may have helped maintain access to primary health care during the PHE. Data reflects visits up to early June in 2020.

The analysis found Medicare primary care visits dropped precipitously from mid-March at the start of the pandemic, at the same telehealth visits increased for primary care. Nearly half of Medicare primary care visits were provided via telehealth in April, compared with less than one percent before the PHE in February. However telehealth use was lower in rural areas.

The report concludes there is evidence that Medicare’s new telehealth flexibilities played a critical role in helping to maintain access to primary health care services - when many beneficiaries and providers were concerned with transmission of COVID-19. Future research could examine whether these flexibilities were effective and if telehealth may have improved access to care and health outcomes among underserved beneficiaries.

This week, an amendment offered by Representative Bill Foster (IL) and Representative Mike Kelly (PA) to HR 7617, legislation to fund the Department of Health & Human Services (among other federal agencies), passed the House by voice vote. 

This amendment strikes Section 510 of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill, which currently prohibits the US Department of Health and Human Services from spending any federal dollars to promulgate or adopt a national patient identifier. In order to become law, the Senate now must take up and pass a similar amendment.

The current COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent need to lift this archaic ban. Providers need to be able to identify patients in order to prevent misidentification – especially the risks of COVID-19 tests to be either returned to the wrong patient or no patient at all. 

On Thursday, July 23^rd, eHI and several leading health care organizations held a virtual rally on the Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act of 2020 (HR 7663). While Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acted quickly to implement waivers to allow for the reimbursement of telehealth services during the COVID-19 public health emergency, seniors will lose access to this important care unless Congress again takes decisive action.

The House Telehealth Caucus leaders - Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA), David Schweikert (R-AZ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Bill Johnson (R-OH), and Doris Matsui (D-CA) joined eHI CEO Jennifer Covich Bordenick and CEOs from four leading digital health associations to discuss the legislation. eHI, along with more than 300 other organizations, signed a stakeholder letter to Congress supporting continued access to telehealth.

The legislation addresses most of the priorities included in the letter and would ensure all Medicare beneficiaries have continued access to telehealth services. Organizations can sign a letter of endorsement for HR 7663 by clicking here.

"Telehealth has proven vital to supporting the continuity of care."

- Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.

On June 29^th, 340 organizations signed a letter urging Congressional leaders to make telehealth flexibilities created during the COVID-19 pandemic permanent. Those signing this multi-stakeholder letter include national and regional organizations representing a full range of health care stakeholders and all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.