Katko urges Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to expand telehealth access for seniors

U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY) recently made a bipartisan request that America’s senior citizens have expanded access to Medicare-covered telehealth services.

“Currently, Medicare only reimburses recipients for services conducted with audio and video equipment, excluding coverage of mental healthcare services provided over the phone,” Rep. Katko said on April 9. “With telehealth services being the only way millions of Americans have access to mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] immediately acts to expand coverage to audio-only telehealth services, ensuring all Medicare recipients have access to mental healthcare.”

Rep. Katko, co-chair of the bipartisan Mental Health Caucus, and U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Grace Napolitano (D-CA), among others, sent an April 3 letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma asking that CMS provide telehealth services offered by telephone and other audio-only services.

Currently, Medicare reimburses recipients only for telehealth services conducted through video and audio equipment such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, but excludes telephone conversations.

The lawmakers pointed out that Section 3703 of the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act authorizes HHS to waive the requirement during a public health emergency.

“During this public health emergency, telehealth can play a critical role in providing behavioral and mental health services, such as psychotherapy, and no Medicare recipient should be denied access to treatment of any kind,” wrote Rep. Katko and his colleagues.

Rep. Katko also cited a 2020 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report showing that 43 percent of U.S. adults aged 60 or older reported feeling lonely.

“With new measures in central New York and across the country now in place to keep people at home in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, these numbers are sure to rise,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “Now more than ever, it is imperative we expand telehealth services to ensure those struggling with mental health and substance use disorders have access to quality care.”

Heather Petrus, executive director of Cayuga Counseling Services in New York, agreed and applauded Rep. Katko for “spearheading this bipartisan effort to ensure seniors have the ability to access quality mental healthcare over the phone.”