A new Senate bill attempts to expand Medicare coverage of telehealth by requiring the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to study whether telehealth can improve care and lower costs.
A new Senate bill attempts to expand Medicare coverage of telehealth by requiring that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) study whether telehealth can improve care and lower costs.
CMMI was established by the Affordable Care Act to test innovative payment and service delivery models for individuals who receive Medicare, Medicaid, or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits.
About S. 2343
Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced the Telehealth Innovation and Improvement Act (S. 2343) in December.
According to iHealthBeat, the bill would require that the Department of Health and Human Services allow hospitals to test new telehealth programs through CMMI.
The bill would also require that CMMI separately evaluate new telehealth models based on their cost, effectiveness, and ability to improve quality of care without increasing the cost of delivery.
Should these models prove effective, coverage for telehealth would be expanded throughout the Medicare program, reports Home Health Care News.
S. 2343 would pave the way for Medicare to expand coverage to additional telehealth services, said Gardner in a statement. At the same time, he said, the bill would offer the industry an important incentive to develop cutting-edge technology “that could revolutionize health care delivery.”
Currently, few telehealth costs are covered and reimbursed by Medicare, reports Home Health Care News.
“Medicare Part B covers certain services like office visits and consultations that are provided using an interactive 2-way telecommunications system (with real-time audio and video) by a doctor or certain other health care provider who isn’t at (the patient’s) location,” according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Medicare covers these services for beneficiaries living in rural areas “under certain conditions” and only if the patient is located in a:
Consultations, visits, and other health monitoring that take place in the home are largely excluded from Medicare coverage.
“Telehealth has revolutionized health care, helping more patients receive life-saving treatment, and we must ensure that people living in rural areas have equal access to the care they need,” said Peters, who described the Telehealth Innovation and Improvement Act as “bipartisan, common sense legislation that takes important steps to modernize Medicare, expand access to quality care for all seniors, and improve patient outcomes.”
“This bill is a small step in the right direction” said Majd Alwan, senior vice president of technology at LeadingAge and executive director of CAST. “However, we call on CMMI to fund telehealth demonstrations conducted by qualified provider well beyond hospitals, including housing with services, home health and care agencies, adult day health, Life Plan Communities (formerly CCRCs), and Life Plan at Home providers.”