On May 9, 2024, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee advanced legislation to extend pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities through 2026. The bill, referred to as the Preserving Telehealth, Hospital, and Ambulance Access Act, would extend the ability of Medicare beneficiaries to access care via telehealth through December 31, 2026, among other things.
During the
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government and many state governments went to great lengths to relax many of the restrictions on telehealth that had historically limited this medium in the provision of healthcare services to patients. However, in an effort to ensure that patients could continue to access necessary healthcare during this time period
On June 15, 2023, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), a nonpartisan independent legislative branch agency that was created to advise Congress on a range of issues affecting Medicare, issued its 2023 Report to Congress. Included therein was a report, mandated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, on the usage of telehealth services during the public
The COVID-19 pandemic created a paradigm shift in the world of medicine with the increased use of telehealth and telemedicine to meet the challenge of expanding the delivery methods patients used to access health care. Although the federal Public Health Emergency related to COVID has now ended, telehealth providers must continue to monitor developments in
The COVID-19 pandemic created a paradigm shift in the world of telehealth and telemedicine by presenting challenges and opportunities to expand the delivery methods used to access healthcare. With the continued advancement of the technology behind it, telemedicine offered opportunities for healthcare practitioners to practice medicine across state lines when the patient was in a
On July 20, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert for telemedicine, telehealth, and telemarketing services. During the pandemic, the OIG has responded to the expansion of telehealth services by aggressively pursuing fraud investigations against providers. Using these as examples, the OIG