Medicare telehealth pre- and post-COVID-19: interstate framework, regulations, licensure, and HIPAA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30953/tmt.v6.299Keywords:
cost-savings, COVID-19, interstate, medical licensure, Medicare, patient privacy, telemedicineAbstract
The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to temporary relaxations for telehealth concerning physician licensure, geographic location, and eligible sites for reimbursement. Earlier policies had impacted the rate of adoption of telehealth services and hindered the ability to derive full benefits related to cost, access to care, and quality of care. This aspect is analyzed using 2018 Medicare fee-for-service codes and rates for 10 telemedicine services. Based on the data analysis, additional research, and a literature review, this report describes how interstate practices can be better leveraged to achieve maximum potential for direct and indirect savings from pragmatic approaches for certain services. The interstate collaborations proposed in this report provide examples of broader telehealth policies that could foster increasing access to quality healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries and can potentially be used as an insight to assist federal and state agencies as they review the continuation, cessation, or modifications of relaxations granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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