Resources & Reports

Earlier this week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released a temporary rule titled “Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications”.  The temporary rule was made in response to nearly 39,000 comments the DEA received on their proposed rules regarding what would happen post-public health emergency (PHE) in regards to prescribing of controlled substances via telehealth. The two earlier released proposed rules, one related to non-narcotic controlled substances and one related to buprenorphine, were published on March 1, 2023 with public comment closing on March 31, 2023. The two rules would only allow for the prescribing of a 30-day supply of a non-narcotic controlled substance or buprenorphine.

CCHP’s May Newsletter is Here! This month’s topics include – PHE to End May 11, Some Medicare COVID Telehealth Flexibilities Will Linger; What Might the DEA’s Final Regulations on Telehealth Prescribing of Controlled Substances Entail?; Update to CMS Hospice Telehealth Policies; Home Health Agency Telehealth G-Code Reporting Requirements; HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) Provides Toolkit on Analyzing Telehealth Program Integrity Risks; MedPAC Previews Telehealth Report Findings in Presentation; Upcoming Changes to the PREP Act Declaration on Covered Countermeasures for COVID-19; California Medicaid (Medi-Cal) Adds Reimbursement for Continuous Glucose Monitoring. 

Last month the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the “Medicare Program; Contract Year 2024 Policy and Technical Changes to Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly” (“2024 Policy Changes to MA Program”).  Among the many policies listed in this final rule, is a requirement for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to identify enrollees with low digital health literacy and determine how they will be addressing that need.

With the rise of telehealth utilization in response to COVID-19 there has also been an increased interest in how telehealth vendors and practitioners protect and use health data.  This has led to policymakers and regulators proposing or implementing policies to address the type of information collected, how it’s used, and what needs to be disclosed to the patients. While part of this discussion is related to the concerns over privacy and protection of reproductive health information, several recent actions taken by federal agencies have focused on the use of collected data for marketing purposes.