Source: Healthcare Finance
By: Susan Morse, Executive Editor
From broadened access to care to removing geographic and originating-site restrictions, the AMA wants flexibilities to be made permanent.
The House passed a bill Wednesday that extends telehealth flexibilities under Medicare that were initially authorized during the public health emergency of COVID-19.
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 4040, Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act of 2022. It now moves to the Senate for approval.
The American Medical Association applauded the House’s passage of the bill, which keeps telehealth flexibilities through 2024.
The bill would allow federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as the distant site, that is, the location of the healthcare practitioner; it would allow beneficiaries to receive telehealth services at any site, regardless of type or location; it would allow any type of practitioner to furnish telehealth services, subject to approval by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and it would continue coverage for audio-only evaluation and management and behavioral health services.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allowed these flexibilities during the public health emergency to allow patients to receive care virtually when they were unable to get care in-person.
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