Dear Colleagues,
We hope you had a wonderful start to your fall, and that Halloween brought more treats than tricks to you all! The amount of telehealth happenings this fall has been enough to spook anyone, but we've got you covered; keep reading below for the latest on policy movement, existing grant funding, the upcoming NETRC Regional Forum meeting, recently released resources, and more!
Policy Proposals and Legislative Action
October continued the trend of a fall full of telehealth policy movement - with proposals put forth both regionally and nationally, there's a lot of potential expansion across the landscape!
Turning first to our regional view, many states across the NETRC region had legislators return to their various capitals for the launch of a new session over the past month, with the other states' staff not far behind. While it's still early in the process, it looks like dicussions of telehealth utilization and of inter-state licensure compacts may again be at the
forefront
of State lawmakers.
At the National level, the end of October saw the return of two familiar policy pitches to the conversation:
First, the SUPPORT Act of 2018 was revisited, as the 1 year deadline for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) rulemaking regarding an improved provider registration process passed within the Ryan Haight Act, lapsed at the end of the month. Read more about this
here,
and keep an eye out for the Public Comment Period upon release.
Additionally, on October 30, Senators Schatz (D-HI) and other colleagues from the Congressional Telehealth Caucus formally re-introduced the CONNECT ACT (
Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act of 2019),
marking the third time since 2016 this bill or similar proposals has been introduced into session. The new proposal appears similar to the last in the overarching mission of improving access to care, with some proposed highlights including:
-Removal of Geographic Restrictions for emergency services and certain saftey-net orgnanizations at both the orginating and distant site levels
-Permissions for a U.S. president to lift telehealth restrictions during a public health or national emergency
-Require increased funding for CMS Innovation Models to be tested, and
-Require CMS Innovation Center to fund studies examining the impact of telehealth services, and more!
Practice and Procedural Changes for 2020
As mentioned previously, CMS released the Proposed 2020 PFS codes in late summer of 2019. CMS is expected to publish said Medicare 2020 Physician Fee Schedule final rule the first week of November. You can read a summary of CMS’ proposed telemedicine and digital health changes at
this link
.
At the beginning of September, the
American Medical Association
(AMA) released their 2020
Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set
; including major changes to the code set with regards to telehealth! The 394 proposed code changes include: 248 new codes, 71 deletions and 75 revisions. Of the new codes developed,
six codes
are focused on online digital evaluation services (e-visits), and new codes were also created to better support home blood pressure monitoring as well as codes for long term electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring services. Click the links above to read the press releases, and click
here
to request the AMA 2020 data file for yourself.
Keep reading to find
:
-Currently open funding opportunities
-Outline of the Upcoming Leadership Forum Meeting
-Recently Released 2019 Fall CCHP Report on State Telemedicine Laws and Reimbursement Report
-The dates and location of our NETRC 2020 Regional Telehealth Conference
-Upcoming Webinars and ones you may have missed
-Recent telehealth headlines and research; and more!
Look for us on the road!
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, for more information on the news below, to share your successes, or just to say hello!
On Behalf of the NETRC Team - Be Well,
Reid Plimpton, MPH - Project Manager
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Telehealth Funding Opportunities to Consider
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Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
HRSA-20-026:
Rural Health Network Development Planning Program
HRSA-20-056
: Maternal and Child Health Field-Initiated Innovative Research Study (FIRST)
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
REAP:
Rural Energy for America Program- Fiscal Year 2020
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Hot off the Press: CCHP's Fall 2019 State Telehealth Laws & Reimbursement Policies Report
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Key Policy Findings by Modality include:
50
states and Washington, DC provide reimbursement for some form of
live video
in Medicaid fee-for-service.
14*
provide reimbursement for
store-and-forward
,
*
4 additional jurisdictions (HI, MS, NH, and NJ) have laws requiring Medicaid reimburse for store-and-forward but as of the creation of this edition, yet to have any official Medicaid policy indicating this is occurring.
22*
state Medicaid programs provide reimbursement for
remote patient monitoring
(RPM).
*
Similar to store-and-forward, 2 Medicaid programs (HI and NJ) have laws requiring Medicaid reimburse for RPM but at the time this report was written, did not have any official Medicaid policy.
Key Reimbursement Policy Findings include
:
40
states and DC currently have a law that governs private payer telehealth reimbursement policy.
34
state Medicaid programs offer a transmission or facility fee when telehealth is used.
23
states limit the type of facility that can serve as an originating site.
Click the cover photo of the report to the right to download
CCHP
's full 2019 Report, or click
here
to access a summary level infographic!
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NETRC Telehealth Leadership Forum
Updates & Upcoming Meetings
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The Telehealth Leadership Forum has been going strong! The group has recently been experimenting with a web-based communication platform, and the next meeting date is right around the corner!
The Next Forum Meeting is scheduled for
this
Wednesday November 6th, at 10am Eastern Time!
Join us as we discuss today's burning telehealth questions, upcoming funding opportunities, and listen in on a discussion led by Adirondack Health Insitute's own Katy Cook!
Join the Conversation; Register Today!
The forum will plan to operate on a bi-monthly basis, with the potential for a meeting in the off months as subgroups or when pressing topics arise; please contact
Reid Plimpton
with any quesitons.
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Upcoming Regional and National Events
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APHA 2019
| November 2-6, 2019 | Philadelphia, PA
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Upcoming & Archived Webinars
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November 21st - 2:00pm EST
National TRC Webinar Series:
Redesigning Care in Series Based Care: Obstetics and Autism Caregiving Training
This presentation will show how Henry Ford Health System has increased patient and caregiver participation, satisfaction, and convenience through the use of virtual visit technology.
Their program has redesigned care pathways to safely and effectively deliver prenatal care via virtual visit technology to low risk, expectant mothers. Marie will also provide examples of how Henry Ford’s evidenced-based behavioral treatment helps children, adolescents and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental disabilities learn functional skills and reduce disruptive behaviors.
Click on the image above, or
here
to register today!
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November 19, 2019 3:30-4:45 pm
(Eastern) -
HRSA Rural Suicide Prevention in Farm and Ranch Communities - Webinar
Dial-In: 888-989-7695; Participant Passcode: 6473800
No Registration Required
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And in case you missed it:
May 1
-August 27
National TRC Webinar Series for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs):
3 Part Series
Throughout the summer of 2019, the NCTRC hosted webinars aimed at Federally Qualified Health Centers, including: Telehealth 101, Using Telehealth to treat S.U.D., and Telebehavioral health.
September 19
National TRC Webinar Series
Capacity Building Through Telemedicine: Georgia Department of Public Health
This webinar aims to address recent developments of telehealth and telemedicine in the state of Georgia, Department of Public Health (DPH). Audiences will learn how DPH built its infrastructure, discuss implementation strategies, hear lessons learned, and gain strategies on how to partner with various programs to increase access to care across rural and urban settings.
October 3rd
- 3:00pm Eastern
National Rural Health Association Webinar:
2019 Mid-Year Rural Health Policy Roundup
Join CEO of the NRHA Alan Morgan, the SWTRC, and the Arizona Telemedicine Program to discuss the current congressional intiatives surrounding telehealth and rural health services, along with any recent policy changes.
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Save The Date for NETRC 2020!
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The NETRC team is beyond excited to announce the date and location of our 2020 regional conference event; Mark your calendars, and plan to join us and over 200 telehealth professionals for two days of learning and collaboration in
Manchester New Hampshire on June 8-9, 2020!
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Could Amazon be the next national telehealth player?-
MedCity News, October 24, 2019
Link
With a local pilot program among employees in the Seattle area, Amazon looks to be working out many of the regulatory and logistical kinks that could lay the groundwork for broader telemedicine adoption nationwide.
Telemental health laws: Free app-
Epstein Becker Green, LLC, October, 2019
Link
This law firm specializing in telehealth recently announced the 2019 update to its
Telemental Health Laws
survey of state telehealth laws, regulations, and policies for mental and behavioral health practitioners and stakeholders across. This new data is incorporated into their free mobile device app for searching and accessing their database..
Cleveland Clinic, American Well partner on virtual visits with specialists-
Healthcare Dive, October 23, 2019
Link
The Cleveland Clinic and telehealth vendor American Well have
launched a joint venture
to provide virtual access to medical specialists for patients worldwide with complex healthcare issues.
Avera eCare to launch national telehealth certificate program-
mHealth Intelligence, October 22, 2019
Link
The South Dakota-based telehealth network is using a $4.3 million grant to create a certificate program for telehealth delivery and telemental health and build a new telehealth education center.
California enacts telehealth payment parity, boosts asynchronous care-
mHealth Intelligence, October 21, 2019
Link
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed several telehealth bills, making the state among a dozen to support payment parity, store-and-forward care and telemedicine abortions.
Leveraging telehealth for a more consumer-centric healthcare experience-
Huron Insights, October 2019
Link
The Huron Consulting Group provides this brief on broad strategies to adopt that can assure that telehealth goes beyond use for on-demand urgent care appointments to become an integrated component of the health care continuum.
Implementation best practices: Teeing up telemedicine-
Healthcare IT News, October 10, 2019
Link
Five telehealth technology experts share their decades of expertise, with advice to help healthcare CIOs and other IT leaders launch new telemedicine programs.
At Dartmouth-Hitchcock, workarounds are key to telehealth integration-
mHealth Intelligence, October 10, 2019
Link
This New Hampshire health system has eight different telehealth service lines and deals with a wide range of EMRs and connected health platforms. Because these systems don't synchronize well they have had to adopt workarounds..
UnitedHealth doubles down on telemedicine with app in employer-sponsored plans-
Healthcare Dive, Oct. 10, 2019
Link
The country's largest private health insurance payer is rolling out a new virtual care app for the more than 27 million Americans covered in its employer-sponsored health plans.
Do video telehealth requirements curtail access in rural states?-
mHealth Intelligence, October 9, 2019
Link
A study by digital health company Ro finds that states that mandate video-based telehealth may be limiting access to care for underserved populations who don't have the broadband capacity to use video.
States that mandate video-based telemedicine may be hindering access to care for residents who can’t access the bandwidth to support reliable video.
CNY telehealth program: future of seeing doctor by phone or tablet for variety of health needs? -
WAER News (Syracuse), October 9, 2019
Link
A telehealth program of the New York health provider organization Loretto is profiled. The program uses tablet applications for patients in various settings to communicate with and get care from with chronic care providers in their implementation of their managed Medicare Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.
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Recommended Telehealth Research/Resources
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Adam R, McMichael D, Powell D, Murchie P.
BMJ Open 9(9)
:e032510, 2019
American Well, Inc. September 2019
(requires a free registration)
Boffman L. Ro, Inc., October 8, 2019
Connor K. Upper Midwest Telehealth Resource Center Webinar, September 2019
Fisher C, Biehl E, Titmuss MP, Schwartz R, Gantha CS.
HSS J. 15(3):
226-233, 2019
Glover AC, Schueller SM, Winiarski DA, et al.
JMIR Ment. Health 6(10):
e15144, 2019
Greene E, Proctor P, Kotz D.
Smart Health 12:
49-65, 2019
Hobson GR, Caffery LJ, Neuhaus M, Langbecker DH.
JMIR mHealth uHealth 7(10):
e14877, 2019
Malani P, Solway E, Kurlander J, et al. National Poll on Healthy Aging, Univ. of Michigan, October 2019
Marks JD, Augenstein J, Brown A, Lee S. Manatt Health Strategies, LLC, Sept. 11, 2019
Osman MA, Schick-Makaroff K, et al.
BMJ Glob Health 4(5):
e001629, 2019
US Department of Defense and Veterans Administration, August 28, 2019
US Department of Defense, August 14, 2019
van Veen T, Binz S, Muminovic M, et al.
West. J. Emerg. Med. 20(5):
799-802, 2019
Vaughn IA, Beyth R, Ayers ML, et al.
Fed. Pract. 36(9):
406-411, 2019
Wali S, Hussain-Shamsy N, Ross H, Cafazzo J.
JMIR mHealth uHealth 7(10):
e14275, 2019
Chaffin HM, Nakagawa K, Koenig MA.
Hawaii J. Health Soc. Welf. 78(9):
280-286, 2019
Cordova D, Mendoza Lua F, Muñoz-Velázquez J, et al.
PLoS One 14(8):
e0221508, 2019
Cross TP, Walsh WA, Cross EM. Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health, June 2019
Dinh-Le C, Chuang R, Chokshi S, Mann D.
JMIR mHealth uHealth 7(9):
e12861, 2019
Federal Communications Commission. FCC Broadband Progress Reports, May 2019
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The Northeast Telehealth Resource Center (a proud member of the
National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers) aims to increase access to quality health care services for rural and medically underserved populations through Telehealth. Our service area includes New England, Northern New Jersey, and New York. Learn more at
www.netrc.org
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This newsletter was made possible by grant number G22RH30352 from the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, Health Resources and Services Administration, DHHS
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