Resources & Reports

As 2023 comes to a close, the Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) is releasing its annual roundup of 2023 State Legislation.  This year, many state legislatures persisted in aligning with trends observed in 2022 to refine, expand and impose additional safeguards on telehealth, with a particular focus on the audio-only modality that gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Noteworthy changes included more specificity in many states as to the types of services and providers that are both allowed to deliver services via telehealth, as well as what is reimbursed.  Individual state licensing requirements continue to pose a challenge for providers, as states sought to address concerns through a variety of methods, including interstate compacts, and/or special registration processes or telehealth exceptions.

CCHP’s December Newsletter is Here! This month’s topics include – Congressional Hearings Held on Telehealth and AI; Latest Policy Developments in CCHP’s Telehealth Policy Finder and Policy Trends Map; FCC and Proposal for New Open Internet Rules; Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Data Report; CHCF – Telehealth Outcomes and Impact on Care Delivery: A Review of Evidence; In Case You Missed It: CCHP PFS Factsheet; Medicare Instructs FQHCs and RHCs to Resubmit Telehealth Claims with Modifier CS; Chapel Hill Research Center on Virtual Care; Upcoming NCTRC Webinar: What Will 2024 Bring for Telehealth Policy?; Open for Questions:  FQHC Billing Assistance Technical Assistance.

As 2023 begins to wind down, CCHP is looking back at the year to assess where things stand on the telehealth policy landscape.  The conclusion we have come to is: for federal policy at least, we’re pretty much right where we were at the beginning of the year.  This year was supposed to be the year of significant changes in telehealth policy because the federal public health emergency (PHE) had been set to end on May 11, 2023. However, looking back over the past year, we actually see that federally many of the temporary COVID-19 telehealth policy waivers still remain in effect. (On the state level it would depend on the state, but overall, state telehealth policy remained fairly stable as many states had decided in previous years what to do with their COVID-19 temporary policies). All this means is that 2024 will likely be the year where policymakers will be forced to make some tough decisions unless they decide they want to do another temporary extension.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently released updates regarding efforts to expand broadband access and address digital discrimination and disparities. In particular, the FCC announced $18 billion in funding to 368 companies as part of the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM) program, which seeks to incentivize companies to improve access and quality of broadband services in rural areas. To receive funding, companies have to agree to provide broadband at specific speeds (at least 100/20 Mbps) to more than 700,000 locations.

Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Final Rule for the 2024 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). The PFS contains policy changes for the Medicare program that will go into effect January 1, 2024 (unless otherwise stated). Many of the proposals in the Final Rule mirror what was proposed by CMS in July 2023, however, there were a few differences.  In this edition of CCHP’s In Focus we dive a bit deeper into a few of the of the final telehealth policies and release a new CY 2024 Final PFS factsheet that delves into each policy in more detail.