With only 27 days to go before COVID-era telehealth flexibilities expire, a major health IT group along with 62 healthcare organizations are urgently calling on Congress, again, to take immediate action and grant a two-year extension.
In a letter (PDF) to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-L.A.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and major health systems said anything less than a two-year extension would be "highly disruptive to care delivery and will create an unnecessary level of uncertainty for clinicians and their patients."
Providers simply can’t afford this type of uncertainty and patients have come to count on telehealth for their healthcare needs. Without action from Congress, access to care will be interrupted and the nation’s most vulnerable patents will be impacted, the organizations said.
Health tech vendors athenahealth, KeyCare, Verata and Zoom Communications signed the letter along with major health systems Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Stanford Health Care, Inova Health, MedStar Health and Yale New Haven Health System, among others.
"Telehealth provides critical access for patients and families. Despite uncertainty, providers have worked for years to ensure quality care and invested in systems to ensure security and equity, "Scott MacLean, CHIME board chair, said in a statement. "Congressional leaders have signaled support for this bipartisan issue. Across the country patients are scheduled for telehealth visits expecting continuity in their care. Anything less than another two-year extension as soon as possible will be chaotic and disruptive for clinicians and patients who have become comfortable with telehealth as a way to gain access to care.”
Healthcare organizations have made significant investments in telehealth. According to CHIME’s 2024 Most Wired survey, 93% of healthcare organizations operate a telehealth service; 80% now offer asynchronous provider visits with 63% of those being fully adopted across their enterprise; 97% have adopted virtual patient and family visits; and 87% are utilizing remote patient monitoring integrated into the treatment plan.
The flexible telehealth policies put in place following the Public Health Emergency (PHE) have been "nothing shy of a lifeline for millions of patients," the organizations wrote. Telehealth services have increased virtual access to a wider array of clinicians and services, mitigated the clinician shortage, improved access to specialists, and shortened wait times to be seen. "Importantly, as patients and clinicians navigate challenging economic conditions, the use of telehealth has provided affordable healthcare options," the organizations wrote.
Telehealth services have been particularly beneficial to patients living in rural and hard-to-reach areas.
Without action from Congress, the telehealth flexibilities enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic will expire on December 31.
The deadline for the end of these policies comes at a time when patients are struggling with inflationary pressures, clinician burnout and recording setting Baby Boomer retirements, the organizations wrote in the letter to lawmakers.
"Medical price inflation is outpacing overall inflation creating cost pressures on both patients and clinicians. Experts report 11,000 Americans are turning 65 every day. And, studies find clinician burnout has topped 47% among physicians and 56% among nurses.
Telehealth policies that were included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2023 encompass waiving geographic and originating site restrictions so that urban, suburban, and rural Medicare patients can continue to receive telehealth services at any location, including their home as the “originating site” rather than have to travel to a brick-and-mortar healthcare facility.
Other flexibilities in the CAA include expanding the list of telehealth practitioners to include qualified occupational therapists , physical therapists), speech-language pathologists and audiologists, continuing payment for telehealth services delivered in rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers, waiving the in-person requirement for telehealth treatment of certain mental health conditions.
Organizations also want lawmakers to extend policies that continue the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) initiative, which allows certain Medicare-certified hospitals to treat patients with inpatient-level care at home from participating hospitals.
"Extending telehealth policies is not just a matter of convenience; it is a necessity for ensuring affordable access to healthcare for patients," CHIME and the 62 organizations wrote.
“Let’s not pull the rug out on them both now,” Russ Branzell, CEO CHIME, said in a statement. "Patients have to rely on telehealth as an important care modality. We can’t afford to go backwards at this point. Care innovation is here to stay and leveraging telehealth moves healthcare forward.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have already released a temporary rule extending the current policy flexibilities regarding telemedicine prescribing of controlled substances through the end of 2025.