Hospital-at-home and telehealth reimbursement from CMS will expire at the end of 2024 without congressional action. Becker’s covered five things to know about the upcoming changes. From the article:
1. CMS allowed flexibility for hospitals and health systems to provide acute hospital care at home and additional telehealth services during the pandemic. The rules were since extended but expire Dec. 31.
2. The lame-duck Congress will have to act or the programs will go away. A bill to provide an extension unanimously passed a House committee Sept. 18.
3. “It is our sincere hope that Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle act swiftly to advance a bill extending telehealth flexibilities and get it to President Biden’s desk for signature before year-end,” said Kyle Zebley, senior vice president of public policy for the American Telemedicine Association, in a Nov. 6 statement. “We cannot understate the urgency of extending these flexibilities in order to avoid interrupting needed and often life-saving care for millions of patients.”
4. CMS has approved 373 hospitals across 139 health systems and 39 states for hospital-at-home programs to date, including eight new health systems since March alone.
5. The telehealth legislation would enact geographic and originating-site waivers, repeal the in-person requirement for telemental health, allow audio-only telehealth, and expand Medicare telehealth providers to include physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists and audiologists.
