Telemedicine Emergency Regulations Becoming Permanent
President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order aimed at extending availability for Telemedicine services. The administration has allowed for substantial relaxation of many of the Telehealth, often called Telemedicine, rules due to the emergency facing the United States as a result the Coronavirus. This order looks to make many of those changes permanent after the COVID-19 emergency order ends.
It is unclear exactly what aspects of Telemedicine will become lasting but the order by the President stipulated now that regulatory agencies begin the processes of implementing the expansion of how Telemedicine is used to make them permanent.
Health & Human Services have 60 days to expand Telemedicne
Based on the order, and an article from thehill.com, the secretary of the Health and Human Services (HHS) has 60 days to issue a proposed rule for extending certain measure put in place by the PHE, including (a) the additional telemedicine services offered to Medicare beneficiaries; and (b) the services, reporting, staffing, and supervision flexibilities offered to Medicare doctors in rural areas.
The order also requires the Federal Department of Health and Human Services to develop a new payment model to improve health care in rural communities.
Telemedicine Joint Initiative to Improve Infrastructure & Communication
Additionally, the Telemedicine regulations will have the federal government 30 days to launch a joint initiative with the aim of improving Telemedicine connectivity and communication infrastructure for rural healthcare communities.
New Telemedicine regulations just the tip of the iceberg
This Telemedicine regulation directive is just the tip of the iceberg for the permanent adoption of Telemedicine regulations. State Governments are likely to adopt many of these changes as well into their own regulations. Many patients are turning to Telemedicine to meet their healthcare needs in droves. Fairhealth.org, a non-profit entity that maintains the largest claims database in the country reports that “..between April 2019- April 2020 claims lines for Telemedicine services grew by an astounding 8,335%.”
Don't Expect all Telemedicine Regulations Will Become Permanent
However, as Providers and Patients take advantage of these relaxed Telemedicine rules there are some that are unlikely to remain permanent. Specifically, those around not using a HIPAA secure Telemedicine platform and the ability to communicate with patients using just the telephone. Those are two areas that both Federal and State governments are unlikely to continue to waive as the COVID-19 emergency eventually subsides.
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