Resources & Reports

Last month the National Institutes of Health (NIH)  announced an expansion of the Home Test to Treat Program, which began during the pandemic to offer free COVID-19 virtual health services, including at-home tests and treatments, as well as telehealth visits. The program has now been expanded to include testing, treatment, and telehealth visits related to the flu. Home testing technology offered initially will be the Pfizer COVID-19 & Flu Home Test, which is the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved test that can detect both viruses at the same time.

As we enter this new year, CCHP is offering reminders and resources related to the current status of telehealth policy across the country.

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.