Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) and Rep. Troy Balderson (OH-12) reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would require a formal documentation of the costs, efficiency, and quality of telehealth programs during the pandemic.
The Knowing the Efficiency and Efficacy of Permanent (KEEP) Telehealth Options Act of 2021 aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of telehealth and support the continuation and improvement of telemedicine by documenting its uses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency.
“Over the past year, I have heard from Iowa’s doctors, hospitals, and patients about how effective telemedicine options have been at continuing health care appointments during this pandemic. Telehealth should become a part of our continuum of care even after this pandemic ends because it can often be safer, quicker, and more cost effective,” said Rep. Axne. “Use of telehealth during this pandemic has proven how effective and important telehealth options are for older Iowans or those who live farther from a health center. Rep. Balderson and I recognize the golden opportunity we have now to document how these services have been implemented and where improvements can be made so we can chart a path to keeping these options available for patients who won’t stop needing them when this pandemic is over.”
“At nearly the one-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changing Ohioans’ daily lives, many routine activities continue to take place online, including work, schooling, socialization, and healthcare, to name a few,” said Rep. Balderson. “For many rural and low-income Ohioans, this shift to telehealth has been beneficial, breaking down previous barriers for them to access quality care. By permanently expanding telehealth services, we can level the healthcare playing field for years to come.”
The COVID-19 pandemic shifted many treatments to telehealth, allowing for services like primary care check-ups, physical therapy sessions, and mental health appointments to continue online in order to avoid COVID-19 exposure risk for patients.
The COVID-19 pandemic also spurred temporary options for telehealth access for mental health services under Medicare and Medicaid, expanded services such as speech pathology and audiology, as well as primary care visits traditionally done in person.
The KEEP Telehealth Options Act of 2020 would commission studies by Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) to gather information on telehealth use during COVID-19 in order to support making telehealth options and adjusted reimbursement rates permanent.
The studies would be required to gather information on telehealth utilization and impact, including an analysis of use using demographic data, and assess the efficiency, cost, management, and fraud risk of expanded telehealth services. The bill would require both studies to be completed in under 220 days and be made available to the public.
Supporters:
The KEEP Telehealth Options Act has been endorsed by the American Hospital Association, National Association for Behavioral Health Care, National Council for Behavior Health, National Alliance on Mental Illness, American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons, National Physical Therapy Association, American Occupational Therapy Association, American Cochlear Implant Alliance, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Iowa Medical Society, Iowa Hospital Association, Hospice and Palliative Care Association of Iowa, OrthoForum, Iowa Psychological Association, Association of Mature American Citizens, University Hospitals, Iowa Physical Therapy Association, American Health Quality Association, and more.
Background:
Rep. Axne has made expansion of telehealth services a key priority to her work helping Iowans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Reps. Axne and Balderson introduced bipartisan legislation to push the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to expand telehealth availability for therapeutic services like physical therapy and speech pathology.
Following this push, CMS announced they would expand telehealth reimbursements for those and other health services.
Rep. Axne also led a bipartisan letter to CMS seeking additional clarity on telehealth reimbursements for rural health care providers.
Original source can be found here.
