Capito calls for permanently expanding Medicare coverage of telehealth

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) joined a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers in calling on congressional leaders to make permanent expanded coverage of Medicare telehealth services.

“Specifically, immediate action to permanently waive geographic restrictions for originating sites, authorize health centers in rural and underserved areas to provide telehealth, and allow beneficiaries to use telehealth in their homes would be key steps to ensure much-needed certainty about Medicare telehealth coverage for health care providers and to improve access to care for patients,” Sen. Capito and her colleagues wrote in a Dec. 4 letter sent to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

The Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020 and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act included provisions from the bipartisan CONNECT for Health Act, S. 2741, which would increase access to telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to their letter.

“As a result, waivers of statutory geographic and originating site restrictions have allowed Medicare beneficiaries to use telehealth services in all areas of the country, as well as in their homes,” the lawmakers wrote. “In addition, more types of healthcare providers including health centers in rural and underserved areas, are authorized to provide distant site telehealth services, among other important flexibilities.”  

The new authority also resulted in a rapid increase in telehealth utilization, according to their letter, which cited an early analysis of the expansion of Medicare telehealth coverage during the pandemic showing that roughly 13,000 beneficiaries in fee-for-service Medicare received telehealth services in a week. 

“But by the last week of April, nearly 1.7 million beneficiaries received telehealth services,” wrote Sen. Capito and her colleagues, who included U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Brain Schatz (D-HI), as well as U.S. Reps. Bill Johnson (R-OH), Tom Cole (R-OK), and Elise Stefanik (R-NY), among others.

However, the lawmakers pointed out that authority for the expanded coverage of Medicare telehealth services is temporary and tied to the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, which is renewed in three-month increments.

“Without more certainty about the future of Medicare coverage, many organizations are not investing in all of these areas to optimize the use and availability of telehealth,” they wrote, adding that “Congress needs to act now to better serve patients and healthcare providers during the pandemic, and to ensure that telehealth remains an option after the pandemic is over.”

They also urged leadership to permanently authorize Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics to provide distant site telehealth services and to allow patients to receive clinically appropriate telehealth services in their homes.