Opinion
Video
Chad Ellimoottil, MD, on the ‘positive momentum’ to extend telehealth flexibilities
Author(s):
"I think that there's been a lot of positive momentum to continue coverage for telehealth without geographic restrictions, to continue coverage for phone calls, but there's still some uncertainty as to whether or not that's going to be passed, even though there is a lot of optimism for it," says Chad Ellimoottil, MD, MS.
Lawmakers made available several telehealth flexibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to expand access to care. These flexibilities are set to expire on December 31, 2024 if Congressional action is not taken. In this interview, Chad Ellimoottil, MD, MS, details this issue further.
Ellimoottil is the medical director for telehealth and an associate professor of urology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Video Transcript:
There are quite a few telehealth waivers that are set to expire in 2025. It's important to understand the history. In March 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a number of different telehealth flexibilities that were made available that allowed telehealth to really grow and flourish. As we reach these milestones, the end of the national public health emergency and so forth, flexibilities kept getting extended. Really, the next big clip is December 31, 2024 where these telehealth flexibilities are set to expire. Now, there's a lot of concern about that, because we're getting close to that date, but in general, what we find is that there's been a lot of positive momentum to extend those flexibilities even further for another 2 years. For example, there's been passage of bills that have passed House committees; there's 1 that passed 41 to 0, so unanimously passed in a bipartisan fashion that would extend coverage for another 2 years. So, we're still waiting to hear about the final rules here, but definitely a lot of positive momentum.
Within these bills are a lot of the common things that you would think about, whether or not telehealth is going to be covered by the Medicare program, whether there's going to be any geographic restrictions, whether or not phone calls are going to be covered. So, in summary, I think that there's been a lot of positive momentum to continue coverage for telehealth without geographic restrictions, to continue coverage for phone calls, but there's still some uncertainty as to whether or not that's going to be passed, even though there is a lot of optimism for it.
This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.
