Resources & Reports

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.

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