Resources & Reports

CCHP’s May newsletter is here! This month’s topics include – An Expanded Look at Recent State Developments in CCHP’s Telehealth Policy Finder; Lilly Sues Telehealth Company Over Compounded GLP-1 Drug Marketing; Provider Comfort and Barriers in Telemedicine Prescribing: New Study Findings; Telehealth and Tech-Enabled Care for Autism – Promising New Frontiers in Emotion Regulation and Access; VA Telehealth Sees Continued Growth and Veteran Satisfaction; Telemedicine’s Environmental Impact Quantified in New Study; FAIR Health Tracker Enters Sixth Year with Expanded Insights on Telehealth Use; Apply Now: CHCF Health Care Leadership Fellowship. 

The Third Annual Evaluation Report of the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP)was recently released, highlighting the program’s progress to date as well as the role virtual delivery plays in providing MDPP services. The MDPP is considered a lifestyle change program that seeks to provide practical training to promote healthy eating habits, increase physical activity, and maintain weight control amongst Medicare patients at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Prior to 2020, the program was predominantly in-person, but with the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the program was expanded to allow virtual delivery of the curriculum in a distance learning environment.

Private payer telehealth policies can be highly variable and complex. Coverage may differ not only by insurance company but also by the state in which the plan operates and the type of plan (e.g., fully insured commercial plans versus self-funded employer plans). Because of this variability and lack of transparency, tracking these policies in a standardized format has historically been challenging.  However, in recent months, we have come across several detailed private payer telehealth reimbursement policies available online. Based on this publicly available information, we can now provide a high-level overview of the reimbursement policies of 4 private insurers—UnitedHealthcare (UHC), Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota (BCBSND), and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL).

Policymakers have typically been cautious about enacting extensive regulations around artificial intelligence (AI), but as AI becomes more common, meaningful policy changes have gradually been accelerating. CCHP is currently monitoring 94 pending policies at both the state and federal levels regarding AI and healthcare through its Telehealth Legislation and Regulation tracker. Most significant AI policy adoption has occurred at the state level thus far, and recent AI developments at the federal level continue to focus around a largely deregulatory approach to its use.

As telehealth utilization and policies continue to adjust to ensure patient access to remote care, recent research and resources have been released, which highlight telehealth’s ability to improve chronic illness management and prevention. Addressing the rise in chronic conditions and improving the overall health of Americans has also been a strong focus of the new federal administration, as can be seen through the recent establishment of the Make America Healthy Again Commission and the restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) around the priority of ending chronic illness in America. Telehealth also appears poised to serve a promising role in the process, as covered in the research and resources below, though telehealth policy must be considered carefully to ensure telehealth remains fully accessible.