Resources & Reports

Trends in federal telehealth legislation in 2023 thus far have largely been a response to upcoming changes to policies given the impending end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), which is set to end on May 11, 2023, and some of the flexibilities afforded during that time being rolled back.  This year, we are seeing newly introduced legislation largely center on three key themes:

1. Medicare reimbursement
2. Controlled substance prescribing
3. Telemedicine abortion

CCHP’s April Newsletter is Here! This month’s topics include – AMA CPT Editorial Panel Adopts New Office Visit Telemedicine Codes & Eliminates Telephone Codes; Developments in CCHP’s Telehealth Policy Finder and Policy Trends Map; OIG Announces End of Cost Sharing Waiver; New CCHP Resources: DEA Proposed Rule Video and CMS At-A-Glance Policy Chart; Cybersecurity Framework Implementation Guide Updated; Study Finds Reduced OUD Fatal Overdose Rate Associated with Telehealth; OIG Data Brief on Telehealth Utilization in Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP); Upcoming CA Department of Health Care Services Behavioral Health Virtual Platform; AHRQ Recruiting for Healthcare Facilitates for Free Telemedicine Cancer Diagnosis Program; Call for Manuscripts:  Telehealth and Medicine Today.

In 2015 with funding from the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) and working with researchers at the University of California, San Diego, the Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) began a study on the use of synchronous video to provide direct observational therapy (DOT) for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB).  In 2015/2016 CCHP published two issue briefs on the topic:

1. Using Telehealth for Directly Observed Therapy in Treating Tuberculosis
2. Challenges and Recommendations on Using Telehealth For Directly Observed Therapy in Treating Tuberculosis

In March, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology released a data brief entitled “Use of Telemedicine among Office-Based Physicians, 2021.”  The data brief uses information gathered from the National Electronic Health Record Survey to explore the trends in telemedicine usage by office-based physicians, including how it has evolved since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential implications.  The data brief provides a breakdown of the rates of office-based physician’s use of telemedicine, the types of telemedicine tools used, the characteristics of physicians using telemedicine, and physicians’ overall satisfaction with telemedicine.

As the first quarter of the year begins to wind down, now is a good time to check in on the state telehealth legislation that has been introduced thus far in 2023. For those who may not know, in addition to CCHP’s Policy Finder where we track existing state telehealth laws, regulations, and Medicaid policies, we also track pending legislation and regulations for the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  Bills are still being introduced in some states, so this is by no means definitive as to what the state legislative landscape will look like for the full year, however we are able to get a sense of what policy issues appear to be rising to the top in 2023.