While telehealth boomed during the pandemic, easing of emergency measures has opened up the possibility of the service fading away, leaving telehealth companies vulnerable to changing policies at the state and federal level. However, advocacy groups, lawmakers and even the federal government have all made moves to keep telemedicine around for the time being.
Here are five advocacy and funding efforts supporting telehealth made in the last few months, as reported by Becker's:
- Forty-five lawmakers, including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., penned a letter Jan. 28 urging Congress to include a short-term extension of telehealth services. They suggested that some of the government funding legislation should be used to extend and expand funding of Medicare telehealth services for a set period.
- In Florida, a bill was proposed Jan. 28 by state Rep. Tom Fabricio that would allow physicians to remotely prescribe some controlled drugs such as anabolic steroids, sedatives and stimulants.
- The American Telemedicine Association partnered Jan. 21 with heavy hitters in the telehealth space to form an advocacy group that will work to champion telehealth policy and support efforts to expand policy gains made during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the founding members include Teladoc, Walmart, Doximity and Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare.
- The Federal Communications Commission continued its second round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, approving an additional 100 applications Jan. 26 totaling $47 million.
- Sixteen healthcare organizations partnered to launch Telehealth Access for America Dec. 2, urging Congress to protect access to telehealth, arguing such services lead to better health outcomes, greater equity, more patient choice and lower costs. Participating organizations include Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine and St. Louis-based Ascension Health.