July 20, 2017 - Telehealth is gaining support from democrats and republicans, as two pieces of legislation were recently re-launched to expand telehealth services and Medicare reimbursement eligibility.

The Medicare Telehealth Parity Act (MTPA) and the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2017 had both failed to advance during previous sessions of Congress and were re-launched by members of the newly formed bipartisan Congressional Telehealth Caucus.

An April study released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) cited the benefits of telehealth to improve patient outcomes by facilitating follow-up care, and remote patient monitoring to help treat patients with chronic disease. The study also explored the factors that create barriers to telehealth adoption, including Medicare telehealth coverage restrictions.

The legislation introduced addresses these restrictions by aiming to expand the list of providers eligible to provide telehealth services, remove geographic barriers to telehealth care, and expand the services eligible via telehealth. The bills would also allow remote patient monitoring for patients with chronic conditions, allowing them to more easily receive in-home dialysis, hospice care, home health services, telestroke services, and eligible outpatient mental health services.

The Medicare Telehealth Parity Act would phase in the expansion of telehealth services by:

• Removing the geographic barriers under current law and allowing telehealth services in rural, underserved, and metropolitan areas
• Expanding the list of providers and related covered services that are eligible to provide telehealth services to include respiratory therapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech language pathologist, and audiologist  
• Expanding access to telestroke services, regardless of where the patient is located
• Allowing remote patient monitoring (RPM) for patients with chronic conditions such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and diabetes
• Allowing the beneficiary’s home to serve as a site of care for home dialysis, hospice care, eligible outpatient mental health services, and home health services

The CONNECT for Health Act of 2017 would:

• Expand originating sites for telehealth care
• Create a Medicare Remote Patient Monitoring benefit for certain high-risk, high-cost patients
• Lift restriction on the use of telehealth in Accountable Care Organizations, and Medicare Advantage
• Urge the Secretary of Health and Human Services to evaluate the applicability of telehealth in projects before the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)
• Authorize a study on the use of telehealth services once restrictions have been lifted

Check back on our blog and we’ll keep you updated on the progress of the bills this year.

To learn more about how Collain Healthcare telehealth solutions can improve patient outcomes, click HERE.