NCMS Covid-19 News Alert
 

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Timeline to Improve Rural Health and Access to Telehealth

On Monday, President Trump issued an Executive Order on 'Improving Rural Health and Telehealth Access,' focusing on ways to finance rural health care and proposing a permanent extension for some telehealth policies. Key provisions from the Executive Order include:

• Within 30 days, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will launch a new payment model to give rural health care providers flexibilities from existing Medicare rules, establish predictable financial payments and encourage the movement into high-quality, value-based care.
• Within 30 days, HHS, along with other appropriate departments and agencies, will “develop and implement a strategy to improve rural health by improving the physical and communications health care infrastructure available to rural Americans.”
• Within 30 days, HHS will submit a report on existing and upcoming policy initiatives that aim to:
          o Increase rural access to health care by eliminating regulatory burdens that limit                     availability of providers;
          o Prevent disease and mortality by developing rural-specific efforts to drive                               outcomes;
          o Reduce mortality and morbidity;
          o Improve mental health in rural communities.
• Within 60 days, HHS will review certain flexibilities implemented during the current public health emergency and propose extensions as appropriate. Specific flexibilities to be reviewed include:
         o the additional telehealth services offered to Medicare beneficiaries; and
         o the services, reporting, staffing and supervision flexibilities offered to Medicare                      providers in rural areas.

The Executive Order is consistent with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initiatives to expand broadband access to rural providers, and the recent HEALS Act coronavirus legislation, which calls for an extension of telehealth flexibilities until the end of the public health emergency or December 2021.

A recent analysis by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) showed a weekly jump in virtual visits for CMS beneficiaries, from approximately 14,000 pre-public health emergency to almost 1.7 million in the last week of April. Additionally, a recent report by HHS shows that nearly half (43.5 percent) of Medicare fee-for-service primary care visits were provided through telehealth in April, compared with far less than one percent (0.1 percent) in February before the current pandemic. Importantly, the report finds that telehealth visits continued to be frequent even after in-person primary care visits resumed in May, indicating that the expansion of telehealth services is likely to be a more permanent feature of the health care delivery system.

While the report did not analyze specialist visits, other studies mentioned in the report have also shown dramatic increases in telehealth use during the pandemic among specialists such as psychiatry, gastroenterology and neurology to name a few. While in-person patient-provider interactions will remain necessary and preferred, this pandemic has accelerated openness to telehealth in ways previously unseen – from policymakers to providers and patients alike.

Read HHS’ report on telehealth use among Medicare beneficiaries here.

 

 
 

North Carolina Medical Society
PO Box 27167 | Raleigh, NC 27611
Phone: 919.833.3836 | Fax: 919.833.2023 | Email: ncms@ncmedsoc.org
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