The proposal includes expanding Medicare coverage for telehealth services that address mental health and substance abuse issues and extending most COVID-19 freedoms until the end of 2023, as well as some coverage for FQHCs and RHCs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed 2022 Physician Fee Schedule offers some good news for telehealth advocates. The 1747-page
Psychiatrists foresee a new hybrid practice blending phone, video, and in-person visits driven by patient need and preference rather than payment policy. “In the spring of 2020, COVID-19 devastated New York City, where I live and work,” recalled APA President-elect Vivian Pender, M.D., in an interview. “The sound of sirens was continuous day and night.
The CONNECT for Health Act is back before Congress for a 4th time, and backers say the massive telehealth bill could cross the finish line this time on broad bipartisan support and pressure to set long-term connected health policy. Will the fourth time be the charm for the CONNECT for Health Act? The massive telehealth
When meeting patients online, mental-health practitioners must confront a host of issues. During the present COVID-19 pandemic, mental-health practitioners of all disciplines are becoming accustomed to a variety of telemedicine-enabled modalities for treatment and evaluation. A growing variety of telemedicine platforms are now in use. This development has produced an explosion of articles and other documents
Several bills on Capitol Hill aim to expand telehealth coverage for mental health and substance abuse services delivered via telehealth, including efforts to reduce barriers to prescribing scheduled drugs. March 15, 2021 – Congress will be taking a serious look at expanding telehealth coverage for mental health and substance abuse services this year. Last week Senators Tina
A proposed national strategy for preparing for the next pandemic or disaster includes increased access to and coverage of telehealth and a provider licensure plan. Those ideas are contained in a study released this week by the Healthcare Leadership Council and the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. The 25-page National Dialogue for Healthcare Innovation culls lessons learned
December 10, 2020 | Press Releases WASHINGTON, DC — Today, U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) 2.0 to increase the funding authorization levels for the Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act (CARA) programs enacted in 2016 and put in place additional policy reforms to help combat the opioid epidemic
More than 80 organizations have signed a new letter asking federal officials to create a special registration so that qualifying providers can use telehealth to prescribe medications for substance abuse treatment. Telehealth advocates are once again putting pressure on the US Drug Enforcement Agency to finalize a special registration process so that care providers can
Some of the adjustments that have been made to residency education will likely outlive the pandemic in some form—and that’s a positive turn of events. Six months into the global COVID-19 pandemic, medical and psychiatric education has changed—in some ways permanently. Interviews with training directors indicate that institutions, trainees, and faculty have largely adapted to
APA President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H., emphasized the ways telehealth has allowed Americans who might otherwise be cut off from mental health services during the pandemic to receive treatment. During a virtual hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health on June 30, APA President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H., urged
