Resources & Reports

Last month, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed regulations to change current rules regarding the protection of patient records in federally run substance use disorders (SUD) programs.  Currently, these SUD rules differ from what is required under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which has led to challenges in sharing information and obstacles to access services.  The primary section for modification is Part 2 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations (Part 2).

With the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) likely ending in 2023 it has become increasingly urgent for providers to start preparing themselves for its imminent termination.  The PHE was initially declared by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on January 31, 2020, and has been renewed every 90 days since.  The most recent renewal occurred October 13, 2022, ensuring the PHE would remain until at least January 11, 2023, however it is expected that the PHE will be renewed one more time until April 11, 2023.

A new report released last month by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) focused on the use of telehealth in programs from six federal agencies.  Titled Insights on Telehealth Use and Program Integrity Risks Across Selected Health Care Programs During the Pandemic, the PRAC’s Health Care Subgroup (Subgroup) focused on provision of telehealth services in the first year of the pandemic (March 2020 – February 2021) in the following six federal programs:

1. Medicare
2. TRICARE
3. Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
4. Veterans Health Administration
5. Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs
6. Federal Bureau of Prisons and US Marshals Services

Earlier today, Congress passed HR 2617, The Performance Enhancement Reform Act, the omnibus budget for FY 2023.  HR 2617 includes several provisions impacting telehealth, including extending some of the telehealth COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities.  In the budget bill passed for FY 2022, Congress had included a 151-day extension after the end of the public health emergency (PHE) for some COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities.  However, with the passage of HR 2617, these flexibilities will now last until December 31, 2024.

As another full year of living under the public health emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 comes to an end, we are taking a look back to see what has happened this year with telehealth policy on both the federal and state level.  Since the PHE is still in place and likely to continue into 2023, permanent changes on the federal level have been fewer in comparison to what many states have been doing. In fact, some states began making permanent telehealth policy changes as early as late 2020. Other states have taken similar actions to their federal counterparts and put a definitive future expiration date on temporary telehealth policies.