Policymakers on the federal and state level continue to decide which of the temporary telehealth policies to keep after the public health emergency is over. This webinar will focus on the permanent telehealth policy changes Medicaid programs have made and what went into those decisions.
In September, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed formal charges against 138 defendants in multiple health care fraud cases. The largest fraud, resulting in $1.1 billion in allegedly false and fraudulent claims, has been categorized by many news outlets, and even in the DOJ press release as ‘telemedicine fraud’. The actual fraud involved telemedicine company executives paying doctors and nurse practitioners to order unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME) and other testing without a patient interaction, or just based on a brief telephonic conversation.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how important internet-based technology is to access telehealth services and how the digital divide exacerbates existing inequities in access to health care. Many patients without adequate internet access have needed to rely on audio-only telehealth for their care. In response to the digital divide, Governor Newsom and the California Legislature have leveraged the state surplus to make a landmark state investment in broadband infrastructure in a bold attempt to close the digital divide. Join our panel discussion on the current state of these digital inequities within California and how it affects patients and providers. Panelists will provide background on the fundamentals of broadband and how California’s investment in broadband infrastructure will impact the digital divide.
As telehealth became more widely utilized during COVID-19, it became clear that some segments of the population may be left behind due to inability to access the technology. One segment of the population, patients with disabilities, may have encountered unique barriers to accessing care through telehealth. This webinar will focus on what Medicaid programs and other state agencies have done to help ensure people with disabilities can utilize telehealth.
Last week the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) released two new telehealth reports, both related to the use of telehealth to deliver behavioral health services to Medicaid beneficiaries. HHS-OIG breaks up their study into two reports:
