The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed a rule to allow Medicare Advantage plans to expand telehealth benefit coverage. (See alert for more detail) This proposed rule implements the statutory provisions in section 50323 the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. What you might not know, however, is that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 is only one of many legislative vehicles by which advocates for telehealth expansion have been able to move the needle definitively in their favor during this session of Congress.

Over the past two years, Congress has shown its support for the utilization of telehealth by introducing forty-one bills that, if passed, would require Medicare to reimburse providers for their use of telehealth to treat numerous health conditions such as stroke diagnosis, mental health, chronic care management and opioid addiction treatment. Of note, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2017 was the predecessor bill that passed out of the Senate in September of 2017 and became law on February 9, 2018 as a part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
Continue Reading Government Affairs – The Progress of Telehealth Bills in Congress

Congress is considering several adjustments to health IT policy which may have significant impact on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) electronic health records (“EHR”) incentives. On July 20th and 21st, Representatives met to discuss bipartisan legislation to improve the Meaningful Use program and introduced legislation that would authorize a CMS Innovation Center (“CMMI”) project to incentivize EHR adoption by behavioral health providers. The bills may be indicative of Congress’ attitude towards the Meaningful Use program, which has garnered criticism from providers for being burdensome.

On July 21, 2017, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on H.R. 3120 and featured testimony from Cletis Earle, Chairman-Elect of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. The bill, sponsored by a group of bipartisan lawmakers, will allow CMS to modify the requirements of the Meaningful Use program in order to give the Secretary additional flexibility in implementing the program. Currently, providers and vendors must comply with the Stage 3 measures and objectives of the Meaningful Use program starting January 1, 2018 or be subject to Medicare reimbursement penalties. Earle argued that the implementation timeline for Stage 3 of the program is too rigorous for providers to meet and may lead to an increase in hardship exemption applications. Provider and vendor groups across the industry have suggested that the HHS Secretary Tom Price delay the Stage 3 obligations, noting that software implementation and cybersecurity issues have made the 2018 deadline unreasonable. Sponsors of H.R. 3120 note that the bill will reduce the burden on providers’ use of EHR systems, allowing providers to focus on care coordination and patient outcomes. In response, CMS noted that the proposed “Medicare Program; CY 2018 Updates to the Quality Payment Program,” which is open for comment through August 21, 2017, would give eligible providers an additional year to implement EHR technology that complies with the 2014 or 2015 edition of Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (“CEHRT”) and offers the opportunity to apply for hardship exemptions for the Advancing Care Information performance category of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (“MIPS”). For more information, see our update on key proposals of the 2018 Proposed Rule here.
Continue Reading Congress Remains Focused on Electronic Health Records