LTPAC Health IT Collaborative Urges Lawmakers to Extend Medicare Telehealth Policies

PALTmed, in collaboration with the LTPAC HIT Collaborative, has made a significant appeal to lawmakers to extend Medicare telehealth policies that were initially implemented during the pandemic. The collaborative is advocating for a two-year extension of these policies, emphasizing their critical role in addressing several key health-care challenges.

The collaborative highlighted the importance of extending telehealth policies for all clinical and facility providers in the long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) sector. They noted that an extension is crucial for alleviating workforce shortages, extending the reach of clinicians in short supply, and removing barriers for patients. By leveraging telehealth, clinicians and providers can reach a broader patient base, including the most vulnerable and frail individuals who often face barriers to accessing traditional in-person care.

Extending these policies is seen as a vital step in improving patients’ access to necessary health-care services. The collaborative believes that maintaining the flexibility and accessibility of telehealth will ensure that patients continue to receive the care they need, regardless of their location or mobility constraints.

The collaborative has urged Congress to act now to extend the following telehealth policies that have enabled better access to care among Medicare beneficiaries:

1. Expanding the scope of telehealth originating sites to include any site in the United States where the patient is located at the time of the telehealth service, including a person’s home.
2. Exempting geographic and originating site restrictions so that urban, suburban, and rural Medicare patients can continue to receive telehealth services without having to travel long distances to a brick-and-mortar health-care facility.
3. Continuing the expanded list of telehealth providers to include qualified occupational therapists (OTs), physical therapists (PTs), speech-language pathologists (SLPs), and audiologists.
4. Continuing payment for telehealth services delivered in rural health clinics (RHCs) and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs).
5. Waiving the in-person requirement for telehealth treatment for certain mental health conditions.
6. Permitting the use of audio-only technology when broadband is insufficient or unavailable to support a video visit.
7. Allowing recertification of a patient’s need for hospice to occur via telehealth.

For more details, please refer to the collaborative's letter.