Upgrade: Dec. 18, 5: 57 p. m. ET: The wasting president’s prospects are now in question, after severe pressure from President-elect Donald Trump, along with Elon Musk and others, caused Democratic representatives to cut their support for the stopgap measure. Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill appear to have come to an agreement on a temporary year-end continuing quality that will include significant extensions to telemedicine and at-home care after months and months of extremely vocal and passionate lobbying efforts. This week is expected to be the time for a vote on the appropriations costs, which contains many Medicare and Medicaid provisions that have long been sought-after by care and wellness IT organizations. Among the telemedicine and distant individual monitoring provisions in the CR:
A two-year modification of Medicare healthcare flexibilities
A five-year expansion of Acute Hospital Care at Home program
A two-year expansion that allows high-deductible health plans to offer healthcare insurance for the first-dollar amount.
Additionally, the costs includes provisions for the SPEAK Act, which requires HHS to produce best practices for improving healthcare services for non-English speakers, as well as allowances for cardiac rehabilitation services that can be performed via telemedicine at Medicare beneficiaries ‘ homes for the next two years. A five-year extension allowing online participation in the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program, and other provisions. Business organizations are happy about the draft policy, not least the American Telemedicine Association, which cheered the “big win” for online treatment in the act. The proposed legislation’s extensions have a very significant impact on countless Americans, giving them the confidence and certainty they need to continue providing needed telehealth services, according to Kyle Zebley, executive director of ATA Action. We must make sure that these extensions are preserved as they are put to a vote in both of Congress ‘ chambers before passing them to President Biden for signature, he continued. This is a week that will be remembered for advancing telemedicine and putting us in the direction of a modernized healthcare system. The American Hospital Association, Stacey Hughes, executive VP of the American Hospital Association, stated in a statement that the legislation contains a number of crucial policies that the AHA strongly supported. These include preventing cuts to Medicaid’s disproportionate share hospital payments, reducing cuts to physicians, and expanding Medicare programs that increase access to rural health care. ” Importantly, the bill also extends telehealth and hospital-at-home programs that expand access to care”, she said. The AHA applauds the House and Senate’s efforts to pass this bipartisan health care package, which will allow hospitals and health systems to continue providing for their patients and their communities. We applaud congressional negotiators for the promising language in their developing year-end spending package, which would prevent severe cuts to Medicaid support for essential hospitals, expand telehealth flexibility and the hospital-at-home program, and take other steps to improve safety net care, said Dr. Bruce Siegel, president and CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals. Mike Miliard is the executive editor of Healthcare IT NewsEmail. miliard@himssmedia.com Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.
Congress looks set to expand healthcare and hospital-at-home flexibilities
