Telehealth Alliance Formed To Promote Policy Reform
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Senators join with connected health cohorts to push for reform in telehealth policies
According to Business Wire, Former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Trent Lott and former Senator John Breaux announced the launch of the Alliance for Connected Care to promote policy reform supporting telehealth and remote patient monitoring. Once seen only as solutions for providing care in rural areas, advances in technology and broadband deployment have fostered new models of delivery in health care settings across the country. Telehealth is quickly becoming the healthcare delivery service of the future, from management of chronic disease, improved access to specialty and convenient primary care, and mental health services.
The new Alliance has the support and input of board members including Verizon, WellPoint, CVS, Walgreens, Teladoc and HealthSpot, Doctor on Demand, Welch Allyn, MDLIVE, Care Innovations, and Cardinal Health, and it aims to advocate for better access to and reimbursement for care delivered remotely.
According to the American Telemedicine Association, 50 percent of all hospitals use some form of telemedicine today. One pioneer in telehealth has been the Veterans Affairs Department, investing some $500 million last year in remote care technology to serve veterans. And while commercial insurers, large employers, and Medicaid are making strides in covering telehealth services, Medicare lags behind. To date, 20 states and the District of Columbia already require coverage of telehealth by commercial carriers and 45 states allow reimbursement of telehealth services by Medicaid.
According to the alliance’s website, the organization wants to demonstrate that connected care is a tool for improved quality and efficiency, eliminate geographic restrictions for Medicare reimbursement and build bipartisan support among policymakers and thought leaders.
Senator Daschle argued, “Increased adoption and use of new and innovative technologies is at the core of many of the payment and delivery reforms being tested across the nation and is also central to increasing patient engagement. We must ensure that our regulatory environment appropriately balances the exciting advances in technology for patients, while still maintaining safeguards that allow innovation. To put it in perspective, the legal structure around telehealth was established in 2000 when cell phones were still just phones.”
“Despite this rapidly developing technology, and increasing interest among patients and physicians in using connected care tools, legal and regulatory barriers continue to limit mainstream acceptance of the technology,” said Senator Breaux. “Fully realizing the promise of connected care demands urgency among policymakers to foster a regulatory structure that enables safe use of remote patient care technology.”
Senator Lott concurred, stating: “It is time to make connected care a bipartisan priority in Washington. We must improve access to the kinds of innovation that can improve patients’ lives.”