Short takes: Medicare telehealth flexibilities may extend; ‘no interest’ in Transcarent sale; NeueHealth ekes out positive net income; Cigna and Oscar break up; DocGo, Ascension cyberattacked (updated)

Two-year extension of telehealth flexibilities advances in Congress. A small telehealth victory was notched in the House, where the powerful Ways and Means Committee passed the Preserving Telehealth, Hospital, and Ambulance Access Act by a vote of 41-0. The bill would extend many of the Medicare and Federal program telehealth waivers and flexibilities established during the pandemic to the end of 2026. It is now expected that the House will bring the bill to the floor for a full House vote in the fall session. Ways and Means’ jurisdiction is over most financial and revenue-raising Federal measures, such as taxation, Social Security, and Medicare. Highlights of the bill:

  • Geographic and originating-site waivers
  • Ability for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) to continue to furnish telehealth services
  • Expanded list of eligible Medicare providers, allowing physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, and audiologists to render telehealth services
  • Ability to offer audio-only services
  • Repeal of telemental health in-person requirement
  • Preservation of the Acute Hospital Care at Home Program through CY2029

Parts are controversial, such as the telemental in-person requirement, hospice recertification, and guardrails around durable medical equipment (DME) and clinical diagnostics requiring reports to prevent fraud, waste and abuse. The bill did not include remote prescribing of controlled substances. Expect further markups to be made before passage in the House, later in the Senate, and the joint bill. The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) applauded the bill with the main caveat being around telehealth controlled substance prescribing. Full text, FierceHealthcare, ATA release

Glen Tullman rules out a sale of Transcarent–but not an IPO. On the heels of a substantial $126 million in Series D funding and a  jumbo $2.2 billion valuation [TTA 8 May], Transcarent’s CEO Tullman, in an interview with MedCityNews, stated that he had “no interest” in selling the company. Transcarent is already run “like a public company”, has a strong leadership team already in place, and “we’ll make any exit decisions for the right reasons.” Mr. Tullman has already run four public companies and IPO’d three: CCC Information Systems (in auto insurance), Livongo, Allscripts (now Veradigm), and Enterprise Systems. Livongo was sold to Teladoc in 2020, with consequences. Veradigm, the former Allscripts, went public in 1999–25 years ago in a vastly different world. Their big bet in enterprise health navigation is now on AI for both physicians and members.

Back to the New Reality, Bizarro World edition. NeueHealth, which is achieving a world record in Dodging Disaster while paying out leadership bonuses, eked out a decent Q1. The former Bright Health Group managed to squeak out revenue of $245.1 million, operational net income of $5.7 million, and an adjusted EBITDA of $2.5 million compared to a Q1 2023 loss of $5.7 million. This doesn’t mean it was profitable because its net income for Q1 was a negative $28.5 million. Revenue dropped by 18%–$55 million–compared to Q1 2023. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) must be pleased, as they are now 60% owner of the operation with another loan of $30 million secured by penny warrants [TTA 16 Apr]. The full year guidance was reaffirmed at $1 billion in revenue with 70% coming from its NeueSolutions business (their management services for ACOs and IPAs), and adjusted EBITDA between $15 million and $25 million. What remains, of course, are the UXBs–the problems with their financial reporting as noted in their 2023 results and that ever-so-nasty $400 million in payments due to CMS in March 2025, as well as to Texas on their exited ACA plans. But NeueHealth has played both ends against the middle and tied up creditors in Gordian knots for a couple of years, so why not keep on keepin’ on for now? Release, earnings call transcript, FierceHealthcare   TTA 5 April

The much-touted partnership of big Cigna and insurtech Oscar Health is breaking up. The Cigna + Oscar joint program covers the small group business. As of the end of Q1, it had 61,428 members enrolled. The program, which had no forecast of profitability, will end in 2025. CEO Mark Bertolini’s statement was rather forceful in this regard. Oscar is shifting to marketing ICHRA, or individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements that permit small businesses to offer employees individual health plans subsidized by employer contributions. Cigna will continue to offer plans for the small and midsize group market. Becker’s

Cyberattacks strike DocGo, Ascension Health. DocGo reported a data breach in its 7 May Form 8-K filed with the SEC. It involved a limited but unspecified amount of protected health information (PHI) of patients using its ambulance services, but was confined only to that. No other report of the breach has been made. This followed a positive Q1 report of revenue up to $192.1 million, from $113 million in the same quarter 2023. Net income was $10.6 million versus last year’s net loss of $3.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA went up to $24.1 million versus $5.6 million. DocGo provides telehealth/RPM, mobile urgent care, disease management, and medical transportation services. It recently lost its lucrative but controversial NYC migrant service contract but retains city Health + Hospitals contracts and some smaller housing service contracts. Mobihealthnews Ascension Health, on the other hand, has had a serious disruption in some clinical operations affecting an undisclosed number of hospitals and systems, but was reported in Michigan. On Wednesday, Ascension detected unusual activity in select technology-network systems. They advised business partners to sever connections to their systems and have brought in Mandiant to assist in investigation and remediation efforts. Ascension is one of the largest health systems in the US, with 140 hospitals in 19 states plus the District of Columbia. Healthcare Finance, Detroit Free Press, Ascension website

Ascension Update: Reports since yesterday are now far more exact. Its EHR, MyChart, several systems for ordering tests and medications, plus some phone systems are unavailable across the system. Some appointments and surgeries have been postponed. There are emergency diversions of care in some locations. Ascension’s statements to media has been that ‘downtime procedures’ will be in place ‘for some time’. There is no timeline given for restoration. Becker’s, Healthcare Dive

 

Two studies: Telehealth underutilized, underbilled, even during pandemic–and accounted for only modest increases in costs, quality

A newly published study in April’s Health Affairs Scholar points to telehealth’s surprisingly low reimbursable takeup among tradtional Medicare beneficiaries–even during the pandemic. This study evaluates E&M (evaluation and management) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) billing against codes that were established during the pandemic to pay providers for telehealth (e-visits in the study), 99421-99423. It also broke down e-visits by different clinician types: primary care, medical specialties, surgical specialties, behavioral health, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, and counted the most frequent diagnoses. E-visits constituted less than 0.1% of E&M services in the monitored period, 2020-22.

Key findings:

  • E-visit billing hit an absolute peak in April 2020 of 728 monthly encounters per 100,000 beneficiaries. It dropped off dramatically by summer 2020 and later stabilized to approximately 90 monthly encounters per 100,000 beneficiaries.
  • Only 0.8% of Medicare beneficiaries who received an E&M service were billed for at least one e-visit.
  • E-visits constituted 0.09%, 0.05%, and 0.05% of all E&M services in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
  • Primary care providers accounted for over 50% of the billing.
  • Approximately 30% were billed at the highest level of clinician time, requiring at least 21 minutes.
  • Hypertension was the most common diagnosis addressed in e-visits (21%), followed by diabetes (2.3%) and COVID-19 (2%).
  • Surprisingly, fewer beneficiaries receiving e-visits lived in rural areas.

HealthExec

Note to Readers: for those puzzled by the absence of mental health diagnoses, FAIR Health’s monthly telehealth tracker which during the pandemic showed Covid/respiratory diagnoses first, then mental health–and mental health as #1 in about 5% of claims since then –FAIR uses a different methodology. It tracks medical claims for private health plans only, not traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage, or Medicaid. It also does a comparison on CPT 99213, comparing a specific procedure provided via telehealth to the same procedure provided in an office. 15 April methodology release

Editor’s Note, strictly anecdotal: As someone who worked as the sole marketer for a management services company with primary care ACOs during the period in early 2020 when HHS was turning out new codes nearly hourly to create telehealth flexibilities in Medicare, there was considerable confusion around codes and what they covered. Our teams, sourcing from HHS and the AMA, had our hands full to correctly specify and document the CPT codes established at that time. I know because I worked on said documentation that we condensed into a two-page fast guide and then into presentations. Many of the codes were telephonic. My conclusion about this study is that it was very narrow and tracked too few codes. Other factors: practices had difficulty using audio/video telehealth with their patient populations–if the practices had it, patients weren’t ready (tech barriers) or willing to use. Some of the practices reported that they didn’t bill for telehealth encounters during this confused time, trading off reimbursement for overall patient care and marking up quality metrics such as Annual Wellness Visits.

A second telehealth study, published this month in Health Affairs, looked at health systems to assess whether telehealth increased or decreased healthcare spending and usage by Medicare beneficiaries. The study defined by quartile health systems that had high telemedicine usage versus those with higher in-person usage, based on 2020 visits. Their conclusions tracked the changes between the 2019 baseline, 2020, and 2021-22. This study found only a modest increase after 2020 in visits and spend in the highest quartile of telemedicine usage for patient care.

  • In 2020, patients in the highest quartile of telemedicine use had 2.5 telemedicine visits per person (26.8 percent of visits) compared with 0.7 telemedicine visits per person (9.5 percent of visits) in the lowest quartile of telemedicine use.
  • Patients in the highest quartile had modest increases in office visits, care continuity, and medication adherence, as well as decreases in ED visits, relative to patients of health systems in the lowest quartile.
  • During 2021–22, relative to the lowest quartile, patients in the highest quartile had an increase of 0.21 total outpatient visits (telemedicine and in-person) per patient per year (2.2 percent relative increase)
  • That group also had a decrease of 14.4 annual non-COVID-19 emergency department visits per 1,000 patients per year (2.7 percent relative decrease)
  • Per patient per year spending increased by $248 (1.6 percent relative increase)
  • They also had increased adherence for metformin and statins.
  • There were no clear differential changes in hospitalizations or receipt of preventive care.

The researchers contend their findings confirm that the flexibilities around telehealth instituted during the pandemic for Medicare beneficiaries should continue past their scheduled expiration at the end of 2024. The moderate spending increase is also confirmed by another study through 2021 by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission found that geographic areas with higher telemedicine uptake had a spending increase of $165 per patient and a 3 percent relative increase in total clinical encounters. Healthcare Dive

Telemental news roundup: Brightside Health expands Medicaid/Medicare partners; Blackbird Health gains $17M Series A; Nema Health’s PTSD partnership with Horizon BCBSNJ

Mental health, whether pure ‘telemental’ or an integrated in-person/virtual model, remains one of the healthier (so to speak) sectors of digital health.

Brightside Health announced today a series of new and expanded health plan partnerships as well as expanded state coverage for Medicare and Medicaid plans.

  • CareOregon with a new contract to serve Medicaid beneficiaries.
  • Blue Shield of California with a new contract to serve Medicare Advantage enrollees.

These add to Brightside’s partnerships announced last October:

  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas–expanded contract to include Medicare Advantage coverage.
  • Centene’s expansion of coverage state-by-state, including Nebraska Total Care Medicaid and Wellcare Medicare Advantage.
  • Optum for UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage members
  • Lucet for Florida Blue members

Under traditional Medicare, coverage now includes Texas, California, Delaware, Arizona, New York, Washington, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, and Illinois.

Beneficiaries and members can access Brightside’s virtual psychiatric therapy including medication, plus cognitive and behavioral therapy with independent skill practice, and Crisis Care, Brightside’s program for those with elevated suicide risk. With the new partnerships, Brightside is now estimating that they cover approximately 100 million lives–one in three US covered lives–and is seeking to further expand these partnerships as well as to traditional (original) Medicare Part B beneficiaries. Brightside Health was founded well before the gold rush in telemental health–2017–and has raised over $81 million over five rounds up to a Series B in March 2022, mainly led by Acme Capital (Crunchbase). Brightside release, Yahoo! Finance, Psychiatric Times

Blackbird Health raised $17 million in a Series A funding. This was led by Define Ventures with participation from Frist Cressey Ventures and GreyMatter, for a total raise of $23 million to date. Blackbird addresses the other side of the spectrum from Medicare–pediatric mental health in an integrated in-person and telemental health model–and serves patients aged 2-26. Blackbird’s care model considers in an ‘understand-first’ approach how children’s brains develop over time and the impact that growth has on mental health. Another unique aspect is that they developed a series of ‘Blackbird Biotypes’ based on 50 million data points drawn over a decade that identify patterns of behavior in clusters of individuals with similar symptoms-linked brain features. These assist in assessment, accurately identifying the underlying root cause of symptoms, and proposing integrated and personalized treatment plans. Blackbird claims this approach results in substantially lower use of medications and ED utilization. Last year, Evolent Health co-founder and COO Tom Peterson joined the company after his own family’s experience with Blackbird’s therapeutic model to help it scale from its three clinics and 40 providers in the Mid-Atlantic region. Blackbird release, Forbes

Startup Nema Health, a virtual clinic targeting a single condition–post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)–is now in-network in Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ (Horizon BCBSNJ) commercial plans. Nema’s model is virtual care for PTSD from evaluation and virtual therapy sessions, starting with intensive sessions 3-5 times per week for 2-4 weeks, through support from a designated peer mentor plus messaging and interactive exercises. Based in NYC, Nema is in-network with UnitedHealthcare/Optum, Oxford, Oscar, and Connecticare in the states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Horizon is New Jersey’s largest insurer. Nema claims that 76% of their patients no longer meet PTSD criteria after completing Nema therapy. Nema is at seed stage funding of $4.1 million from .406 Ventures and Optum Ventures, raised last November. FierceHealthcare, Nema release

Why this matters:

Since 2020, telemental health got a black eye (and then some) from ADHD and opioid medication-assisted treatment (MAT) providers such as Cerebral, Done Health, Truepill, and others. Thriving during the pandemic, many of them are now facing various Federal charges. Others, like Calm, are basically meditation and sleep apps. The real need, and provider shortage, remains.

The need for psychiatric care and support for Medicare and Medicaid covered populations is high, but clinical supply is low.

  • According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in announcing the state-based Innovation in Behavioral Health (IBH) eight-year, eight-state integrated care model last month, among the 65 million Americans currently enrolled in Medicare, 25% have at least one mental illness, with 40% of Medicaid members experiencing mental illness or substance use disorders (SUDs).
  • Yet provider shortages have worsened over time–as of 2020, The Commonwealth Fund estimated that an additional 7,400 providers (not necessarily psychiatric MDs) were needed to meet demand. Studies cited in Psychiatric Times (2022) estimate that the current shortage of psychiatrists, running at 6%, is expected to be between 14,280 and 31,109 psychiatrists by 2024. Distribution is concentrated in urban areas and their suburbs as well. It doesn’t help that physicians entering psychiatry in 2003-13 decreased by 0.2% and their average age is 55. Even in well-covered geographic areas, retiring doctors with no replacements have created coverage shortages.
  • For child psychiatry, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) reports that there are just 14 psychiatric specialists for every 100,000 children in America. 

Short takes: Humana’s big MA loss (updated); Medicare telemental care bill back in Senate; HHS releases cybersecurity performance goals; Texas Healthcare Challenge hackathon 23-24 February

Humana apparently surprised Wall Street with their Q4 losses, driven by escalating Medicare Advantage (MA) costs.  While revenues ($26.5 billion) for MA’s second largest plan provider were up from prior year’s $24 billion, MA expenses drove an adjusted Q4 loss of $361 million under the insurance segment. From Humana’s earnings statement: “The sector is navigating significant regulatory changes while also absorbing unprecedented increases in medical cost trends. We believe the elevated MA medical costs are an industry dynamic, not specific to Humana, and that they may persist for an extended period or, in some cases, permanently reset the baseline.” On the earnings call, their CFO cited increased inpatient costs, especially for short stays, and more spending in outpatient surgeries and supplemental benefits–trends that Humana expects to continue into 2024 and even into 2025. Home health under CenterWell were tidily profitable and growing. Perhaps MA’s sector problems were the reasons why Cigna, selling off their MA plans, backed out of their acquisition/merger? Q4 press release, management remarks, Becker’s, Healthcare Dive

Updated Humana announced the appointment of a President of Enterprise Growth, David Dintenfass, to spearhead customer growth and retention. His background is not healthcare but Fidelity Emerging Growth Markets, with previous stints at Procter & Gamble and Bank of America. This assumes that the cost problem can be grown out of. Expect more departures and arrivals to roil Humana, as their current CEO moves to a planned retirement transition later this year and has already laid off staff in January Healthcare Dive

A bipartisan Senate bill proposes to continue coverage of virtual-only telemental health for Medicare beneficiaries. The ‘Telemental Health Care Access Act of 2023″ is sponsored by four Senators: Bill Cassidy, R-La., Tina Smith, D-Minn., John Thune, R-S.D., and Ben Cardin, D-Md. and is designed to make permanent the pandemic waiver of in-person requirements that expires at the end of 2024. The senators cited rural health and overall access to mental healthcare. Mental health remains the leading claim line for telehealth. Healthcare Dive, draft bill

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published voluntary cybersecurity performance goals for healthcare and public health organizations. These fit within the HHS 405(d) Program and Health Sector Coordinating Council Cybersecurity Working Group’s Healthcare Industry Cybersecurity Practices as well as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s National Cybersecurity Strategy. (Whew!) The two voluminous sets of goals, Essential and Enhanced, directly address common attack vectors against U.S. domestic hospitals as identified in the 2023 Hospital Cyber Resiliency Landscape Analysis. As noted earlier this week, there were 116 million patient records exposed in 2023 data breaches, doubling that in 2022.

HHS means well, but this is another ‘blood out of a rock’ situation. Health IT departments all over the US, from providers to payers, have had or are facing layoffs in the ongoing clash of business versus technology, which won’t cease because HHS would like it to. HealthcareDive, HealthcareITNews

The Texas Healthcare Challenge Hackathon is back! After three years dark, this year’s edition will be held this year 23-24 February in Dallas. Sponsored by the Health Wildcatters, a Dallas-based accelerator in the DFW area, it is open to just about anyone who can apply–you don’t have to code or hack. Friday kicks off with “problem pitching,” where participants form teams around identified issues, with Saturday starting with morning motivation and intensive team hacking, moving to participants developing viable solutions, assessing market potential, creating functional business models, and addressing risks with mentor support from industry experts. The day culminates in team presentations, with judges awarding cash and in-kind prizes to winning solutions. Learn more and apply here (application form is under the numbers, click on “Hackathon Sign-Up”). Sponsorship is the second button.

Telehealth extensions signed into US law with Federal FY 2023 omnibus bill

Jammed into the final moments of the now-ended 117th Congress before Christmas was the passage of the FY2023 ‘omnibus’ $1.7 trillion Federal budget bill. This bill did at least several good things for those of us concerned with US telehealth, as it extended provisions for Medicare reimbursement that become guidelines for commercial health plans and help to cement telehealth as a permanent part of health care delivery. There is also a tax provision that affects high-deductible health plans. 

Their passage is important as the Covid-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) is set to expire on 11 January and no movement has been publicly discerned for its renewal. In the fall, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified US state governors that there would be at least a 60-day notice before the PHE ends. It is unknown whether this notice has been given.

To summarize the two-year extensions that go to the end of 2024:

  • Expanding originating and geographic site to include anywhere the patient is located, including the patient’s home
  • Expanding eligible practitioners qualified to furnish telehealth services, including occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists
  • Extending the ability for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs) to furnish telehealth services
  • Delaying the in-person requirement for mental health services furnished through telehealth, including the in-person requirements for FQHCs and RHCs
  • Extending coverage and payment for audio-only telehealth services
  • Extending the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) initiative, pioneered by Johns Hopkins two decades ago. It also requires the HHS Secretary to publish a report comparing AHCAH programs with traditional inpatient care delivery. 
  • Extending the ability to use telehealth services to meet the face-to-face recertification requirement for hospice care
  • Extending high deductible health plan (HDHP) safe harbor exceptions for telehealth services in high-deductible health plans.

The final bill did not extend the Ryan Haight in-person waiver for the remote prescription of controlled substances. As mentioned in our earlier article, this is a wise move in this Editor’s view given the abuse of this waiver by certain telehealth organizations. ATA/ATA ACTION release.

The HHS Secretary will be required to submit a report to Congress on the utilization of the above services. The interim report is due in October 2024 and the final report in April 2026, according to the American Hospital Association. Affecting hospitals and practices in the bill:

  • It delayed the statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Medicare 4% sequester for two years, preventing the $38 billion in Medicare cuts that otherwise would have taken effect in January.
  • Partial relief from a 4.5% reduction in physician reimbursement rates starting on 1 January. The legislation reduced the cut to 2% for 2023 and around 3% for 2024.

HealthcareFinance

Other features of this bill having an effect on healthcare and telehealth (from Infrastructure Report Card):

  • $455 million for the expansion of broadband service, including $348 million for the ReConnect program, a series of grants administered by the US Department of Agriculture for the construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in eligible rural areas. This could help rural areas and hospitals in provider-patient and provider-to-provider consults.
  • $1.65 billion for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an increase of $424 million, or 34%, above the FY 2022 enacted level. Specific funding is allocated for the measurement labs and research at $953 million, a $103 million or 12% increase above the FY 2022 enacted level. The goal is to spur research advances in cutting-edge fields like carbon dioxide removal, artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and cybersecurity.

The bill was signed into law by the president on vacation in St. Croix, USVI. Given the bumpy start of the 118th Congress today, these are at least not up for grabs.

CMS telehealth pandemic waivers boosted usage among disadvantaged, urban patients

Broadening telehealth usage areas when in-person visits are restricted boosts–telehealth usage. Beyond the tautology, the surprising finding here is that it benefited two groups that telehealth hasn’t done well with prior to the pandemic: those living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods and in metropolitan areas. It also increased usage among women and those of Asian and Hispanic heritage.

The Johns Hopkins study, published in Health Affairs (abstract only, restricted access), reviewed 30 million Medicare fee-for-service claims to quantify outpatient telemedicine use before and after the Medicare telemedicine coverage waiver that took effect on 6 March 2020. Prior to the waiver, Medicare beneficiaries were covered very narrowly for telehealth, in designated rural areas and specific designated facilities, using synchronous audio/video only–a total of 0.42% with one outpatient visit. After the waiver, this grew to 9.97% of patients with at least one outpatient telemedicine visit. Medicare had previously reported that Medicare beneficiary telehealth usage had grown to over 40% during the pandemic.

According to the study abstract, “After adjustment [for demographic variables], our data suggest that the coverage waiver increased access to telemedicine for all Medicare populations, including people residing in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, although the odds of use were persistently lower with increasing age.” Other studies had found disparities based on demographics such as race, income, and residential location, with higher status pointing to greater telehealth usage, but this study indicates that the loosening of restrictions did not contribute further to these disparities. Thus the logic points to more availability (access) powering increased usage, or at least the odds of use, in this disadvantaged/minority population. 

It is certainly an argument for retaining most of the telehealth waivers–which will require Federal legislation for Medicare after the 90-day Public Health Emergency renewal expires in mid-July, if not renewed. Healthcare Finance, FierceHealthcare

Congress may extend emergency telehealth flexibilities for Medicare, high-deductible plans for five months in spending bill

The quaintly titled 2,741 page $1.5 trillion omnibus bill to fund the US government for the remainder of fiscal 2022, rolled out in the wee hours of Wednesday, includes an extension of telehealth flexibilities established under the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). The flexibilities extend full geographic coverage (versus rural only), location (home and medical facilities), and full payment for beneficiaries and providers, including some audio-only visits. This will apply, however, only to Medicare beneficiaries and providers, members of high deductible health plans (HDHP), and patients of rural health clinics (RHCs), and Federally Qualified Health Clinics (FQHCs). This is a five-month stopgap into 14 September. (The Federal fiscal year 2023 starts 1 October.)

The telehealth rule extension includes:

  • Practitioners such as physical therapists, occupational therapists, special therapists, and audiologists 
  • Originating sites can be anywhere in the US including the home and medical facilities
  • 1,400 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and 4,300 Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) can continue providing telehealth services including mental health visits
  • Waiving in-person initial visit requirement for mental health as well as postponing the in-person visit six months after receiving a telehealth visit
  • Audio-only allowed for Medicare
  • HDHPs have a continued ‘safe harbor’ to offer members telehealth services pre-deductible for the remainder of the 2022 plan year 

The vote is scheduled for the House today (9 March–still not finalized as of this writing), and to the Senate 11 March, with a concurrent short-term funding extension to give the Senate the usual time through 15 March. As of this time of writing, the floor wrangling continues with COVID-19 funding dropped and $13.6 billion in emergency non-defense aid to Ukraine added. The inclusion was cheered by ATA and ATA Action in their release; also Becker’s Hospital Review and Roll CallUpdate: the House passed the domestic portion of the bill 260-171 late Wednesday 9 March evening, and it moves on to the Senate.

CMS expands telehealth, RPM in 2021 Physician Fee Schedule, creates post-pandemic temporary category (updated)

On 1 December, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced its all-important 2021 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), which sets out the fees and rules for physicians providing services to Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and generally serves as a guideline to commercial payers. If one only reads the release headline, one would assume that the national telehealth payment expansion that was approved when the public health emergency (PHE) was declared in March would be largely retained permanently in the 2021 PFS after the earnestly desired end of the PHE, extended to 20 January 2021,

Interpreting CMS-speak is always a task, and so it is here. Your Editor will do her best to unpack it. 

Paragraph 5 is the sobering note for the telehealth ‘bulls’. Telehealth expansion, on a permanent basis, applies to Rural Health, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), and certain Medicare program models (e.g. two-sided Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs, ESRD, Episode Payment models, and Medicare Advantage), and with a limited number of new codes. From the release:

“This final rule delivers on the President’s recent Executive Order on Improving Rural Health and Telehealth Access by adding more than 60 services to the Medicare telehealth list that will continue to be covered beyond the end of the PHE….These additions allow beneficiaries in rural areas who are in a medical facility (like a nursing home) to continue to have access to telehealth services such as certain types of emergency department visits, therapy services, and critical care services.”

The release then goes on to explain the kicker: “Medicare does not have the statutory authority to pay for telehealth to beneficiaries outside of rural areas or, with certain exceptions, allow beneficiaries to receive telehealth in their home.” (Editor’s emphases) 

What seems like a pullback in the PFS is a reversion to status quo ante in geographic and model restrictions, which can’t be changed except by Congress. What CMS can do is expand, and create, new Categories for covered codes.

  • CMS expanded Category 1 which is the basic list of telehealth covered codes (CPTs and HCPCS). If you are in a rural area or a covered model, the expansion is real but limited: the number of new codes in Category 1 is nine codes of the 60 stated in the release. 60 is also far less than the 144 service codes added since the start of the PHE.
  • The remaining telehealth codes of the 60 quoted are in a new, temporary Category 3, which will extend through the calendar year the PHE ends–which is, as of today, 31 December 2021. (If the PHE goes into 2022, unless the rule is changed, 31 December 2022.)
    • Category 3 includes over 50 telehealth service codes for the PHE that are not in Category 1–thus the count of 60 the CMS press release trumpeted. 
    • What is not spelled out in CMS’ press release or public Fact Sheet is if statutory geographic (rural) and model restrictions will apply to this category after the PHE ends. Given the above, this Editor’s interpretation is that statutory restrictions will apply unless there’s a Federal change.
  • The Fact Sheet also clarifies certain frequency limitations, who can deliver telehealth services in a practice, telephone-only interactions with a new HCPCS code, and direct practitioner supervision.  Fact Sheet–Final Policy, Payment, and Quality Provisions Changes

For remote patient monitoring (remote physiologic monitoring) services which were modified during the PHE, there are important clarifications and two finalizations of modifications to RPM services made during the PHE, also in the Fact Sheet. 

The exception to the above is apparently the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP). Virtual delivery of certain services, such as educational classes which shifted from in-person to virtual and weight measurement, will not continue past the end of the PHE. CMS MDPP release. Also mHealth Intelligence.

What this all really means. CMS has Kicked The Telehealth Can Down The Road for 2021. They have retained many of the changes that the pandemic forced, but the geographic and model restrictions remain. But practices have made serious procedural modifications to incorporate remote and telephonic visits. Many patients in the Medicare age group are still self-isolating to a significant degree, and depending on the path of COVID-19 (and the flu) have good reason to limit in-office visits. This year’s use of telehealth in this group, according to CMS, was astounding: between mid-March and mid-October 2020, over 24.5 million out of 63 million beneficiaries received at least one of those 144 Medicare telemedicine services. What remains unclear is if Category 3, after the PHS, could continue to apply nationally through Congressional action, as there are several bills before this soon-to-close Congress.

Certainly this, plus post-COVID usage, will influence the 2022 PFS and perhaps stimulate Congress to allow CMS to permit payment for telehealth services nationally.

Editor’s note: References in addition to above are Center for Connected Health Policy’s Telehealth and Medicare page, the proposed CY 21 PFS Fact Sheet (PDF), and COVID-19 Telehealth Coverage Policies. Hat tip to former colleague Madeline Short, COO of Wilems Resource Group.

Update 3 December: The American Telemedicine Association published its comments on 2 December, agreeing with CMS Administrator Seema Verma’s comments on making telehealth permanent outside of geography, itemizing the present bills languishing in Congress, and also lamenting the short shrift that the final rule gave to remote patient monitoring. Also, Healthcare IT News includes additional comments from ATA chief Ann Mond Johnson. Some states like Texas and Wisconsin are pushing for updated parity rules applying to state-regulated plans, which would include commercial plans and Medicaid. Hat tip to reader Paul Costello for the heads-up.

CMS clarifies telehealth policy expansion for Medicare in COVID-19 health emergency, including non-HIPAA compliant platforms (US)

Today (17 March), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Fact Sheet and FAQs explaining how the expanded telehealth provisions under the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act and the temporary 1135 waiver will work. The main change is to (again) temporarily expand real-time audio/video telehealth consults in all areas of the country and in all settings. The intent is to maintain routine care of beneficiaries (patients), curb community spread of the virus through travel and in offices, limit spread to healthcare providers, and to keep vulnerable beneficiaries, or those with mild symptoms, at home. Usage is not limited to those who suspect or already are ill with COVID-19.

Previously, only practices in designated rural health areas were eligible for telehealth services, in addition to designated medical facilities (physician office, skilled nursing facility, hospital) where a patient would be furnished with a virtual visit. 

The key features of the 1135 telehealth waiver are (starting 6 March):

  • Interactive, real-time audio/video consults between the provider’s location (termed a ‘distant site’) anywhere in the US and the beneficiary (patient) at home will now be reimbursed. The patient will not be required to go to a designated medical facility.
  • Providers include physicians and certain non-physician practitioners such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse-midwives. Other providers such as licensed clinical social workers (LCSW) and nutritionists may furnish services within their scope of practice and consistent with Medicare benefit rules.
  • Surprisingly, there is ‘enforcement discretion’ on the requirement existing in the waiver that there be a prior relationship with the provider. CMS will not audit for claims during the emergency. (FAQ #7)
  • Even more surprisingly, the requirement that the audio/visual platform be HIPAA-compliant, as enforced by the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR), is also being waived for the duration (enforcement discretion again), which enables providers to use Apple FaceTime, Facebook Messenger video chat, Google Hangouts video, or Skype–but not public-facing platforms such as Facebook Live, Twitch, or TikTok. Telephones may be used as explicitly stated in the waiver in Section 1135(b) of the Social Security Act. (FAQ #8) More information on HHS’ emergency preparedness page and OCR’s Notification of Enforcement Discretion.
  • On reimbursement, “Medicare coinsurance and deductible would generally apply to these services. However, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) is providing flexibility for healthcare providers to reduce or waive cost-sharing for telehealth visits paid by federal healthcare programs.”

Concerns for primary care practices of course are readiness for real-time audio/video consults, largely addressed by permitting telephones to be used, as well as Skype and FaceTime, and what services (routine care and COVID-19 diagnosis) will be offered to patients.

This significant expansion will remain in place until the end of the emergency (PHE) as determined by the Secretary of HHS.

In 2019, CMS also expanded telehealth in certain areas, such as Virtual Check-Ins, which are short (5-10 minute) patient-initiated communications with a healthcare practitioner which can be by phone or video/image exchange by the patient. This could be ideal for wound care where this Editor has observed, in one of her former companies, how old phones are utilized to send wound images to practices for an accurate ongoing evaluation via special software. E-Visits use online patient portals for asynchronous, non-face-to-face communications, initiated by the patient. These both require an established physician-patient relationship. Further details on both of these are in the Fact Sheet, the FAQs, and the HHS Emergency Preparedness page with links.

The American Medical Association issued a statement today approving of the policy changes, and encouraged private payers to also cover telehealth. The American Telemedicine Association didn’t expand upon its 5 March statement praising the passage of the Act but advocated for increased cross-state permission for telehealth consults.

Additional information at HISTalk today and Becker’s Hospital Review.

$8bn COVID-19 supplemental funding House bill waives telehealth restrictions for Medicare beneficiaries (US)

The House of Representatives, which controls appropriations, has passed H.R. 6074, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act. The bill provides $8.3 billion in new funding that includes a significant telehealth waiver for Medicare. From the bill summary on Congress.gov:

Within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the bill provides FY2020 supplemental appropriations for

the Food and Drug Administration,
the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention,
the National Institutes of Health, and
the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund.

In addition, the bill provides supplemental appropriations for

the Small Business Administration,
the Department of State, and
the U.S. Agency for International Development

The supplemental appropriations are designated as emergency spending, which is exempt from discretionary spending limits.

The programs funded by the bill address issues such as

developing, manufacturing, and procuring vaccines and other medical supplies;
grants for state, local, and tribal public health agencies and organizations;
loans for affected small businesses;
evacuations and emergency preparedness activities at U.S. embassies and other State Department facilities; and
humanitarian assistance and support for health systems in the affected countries.

The bill also allows HHS to temporarily waive certain Medicare restrictions and requirements regarding telehealth services during the coronavirus public health emergency.

Sponsored by retiring Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), it was introduced and passed in the House 415-2.

In the text of the bill, the telehealth-pertinent portion permitting CMS to waive restrictions on telehealth for Medicare beneficiaries during this emergency is Division B, Sections 101-102. This cost is estimated at $500 million by The Hill.

The bill went to the Senate yesterday (4 Mar) for final approval. There is already an amendment proposed by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to offset the $8 bn of the bill with unobligated, non-health related foreign aid funds (FreedomWorks). Whether this is the ‘offset’ for telehealth that is mentioned in The Hill as under negotiation is not revealed.

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) approved of the waiver. Ann Mond Johnson, the ATA’s CEO, urged “CMS to implement its waiver authority as soon as possible to ensure health care providers understand any requirements and help speed the deployment of virtual services” and pledged “The ATA and its members will continue to work with federal and state authorities, including HHS and the CDC, to address the COVID-19 outbreak and ensure resources are appropriately deployed for those individuals in need of care and help keep health care workers safe.” ATA press release, Hat tip to Gina Cella for the ATA heads-up

CMS’ three new proposed telehealth codes, changes on inclusions, in 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (US)

A little-noticed part of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) annual proposed Physician Fee Schedule rule (Federal Register) for Medicare payments is that CMS on its own, without any provider requests (surprisingly), has proffered three new reimbursement codes, all centered on opioid use treatment:

HCPCS code GYYY1: Office-based treatment for opioid use disorder, including development of the treatment plan, care coordination, individual therapy and group therapy and counseling; at least 70 minutes in the first calendar month.

HCPCS code GYYY2: Office-based treatment for opioid use disorder, including care coordination, individual therapy and group therapy and counseling; at least 60 minutes in a subsequent calendar month.

HCPCS code GYYY3: Office-based treatment for opioid use disorder, including care coordination, individual therapy and group therapy and counseling; each additional 30 minutes beyond the first 120 minutes (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure).

These are classified as Category 1 as they are similar to services already offered under telehealth, so are likely to go into effect on 1 January.

This adds to telehealth services under the SUPPORT Act that removed the geographic limitations for telehealth services furnished to individuals diagnosed with a substance use disorder (SUD). effective 1 July.

Most telehealth services to beneficiaries (Medicare-speak for patients) eligible for reimbursement are limited to qualifying rural areas or one of eight types of qualifying sites and the practitioners are included in one of ten categories of distant site practitioners eligible to furnish and receive Medicare payment for telehealth services. Services also have to be through real-time audio/video and the code (Current Procedural Terminology (CPT)/Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCs) are included under Medicare.

Comments on the Rule are accepted through 5pm on 27 September. National Law Review has the details for filing comments here.

CMS urged to further reimburse telehealth remote patient monitoring with three new CPT codes

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which controls payments to doctors for the Medicare and state Medicaid programs, has been urged by 49 healthcare organizations and technology vendors to further unbundle the controlling CPT code for remote patient monitoring (RPM), 99091. The 2018 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule finally separated RPM from telemedicine remote visits by permitting separate payment for remote physiological data monitoring by unbundling CPT 99091 to reimburse for patient-generated health data (PGHD)–a new term. The letter to Administrator Seema Verma proposes 2019 adoption of three additional American Medical Association CPT Editorial Panel-developed codes which further break down various aspects of RPM, while maintaining 99091. 

CPT codes for Medicare and Medicaid are important because they also influence private insurers’ reimbursement policies. Practices which get paid for RPM are more likely to adopt enabling technologies if they are affordable within how they are paid. 

CMS started to include telehealth RPM in 2015 in a chronic care management code, 99490, but specifically prohibited the use of CPT 99091 in conjunction with CCM. This created a lot of confusion after some brief moments of hope by tying technology to a complex CCM model.

It’s possibly a ‘light at end of the tunnel’ development for hungry tech companies, but one which won’t be determined till end of year when PFS rules are released. Also Healthcare Dive.

Soapbox: JPM’s Dimon takes the 50,000 foot view on the JP Morgan Chase-Berkshire Hathaway-Amazon health joint venture

Mr. Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, had a few thoughts about the JPM-Berkshire Hathaway-Amazon healthcare JV for all three companies. You’ll have to fill up the tea or coffee mug (make it a small pot) for it’s an exceedingly prolix Annual Shareholder Letter you’ll have to sled through to find those comments. Your Editor has taken her punishment to find them, towards the end of the letter in ‘Public Policy’. 

They demonstrate what this Editor suspected–an headache-inducing mix of generalities and overreach, versus starting modestly and over-delivering.

  • Point #1 sets up what has gone wrong. Among several, “Our nation’s healthcare costs are twice the amount per person compared with most developed nations.” Under point 2 on how poor public policy happened, an admission that Obamacare fixed little:

Here’s another example: We all know that the U.S. healthcare system needs to be reformed. Many have advocated getting on the path to universal healthcare for all Americans. The creation of Obamacare, while a step in the right moral direction, was not well done. America has 290 million people who have insurance — 180 million through private enterprise and 110 million through Medicare and Medicaid. Obamacare slightly expanded both and created exchanges that insure 10 million people. But it did very little to fix our broken healthcare system and has, in fact, torn up the body politic over 10 years — and this tumult may go on for another 10 years.

  • Point #7 is about fixing the deficit and the ill effects if we don’t. In Mr. Dimon’s view, healthcare is a major part of this through the uncontrolled growth of entitlements, with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security leading the pack–skipping over the fact that nearly all Americans pay into Medicare and SSI well in advance of any entitlement collection. Healthcare is also an offender through unnecessary costs such as administrative and fraud (25-40 percent),  and six mainly chronic conditions accounting for 75 percent of spending.
  • The experts–specifically, their experts–will fix it! “While we don’t know the exact fix to this problem, we do know the process that will help us fix it. We need to form a bipartisan group of experts whose direct charge is to fix our healthcare system. I am convinced that this can be done, and if done properly, it will actually improve the outcomes and satisfaction of all American citizens.”
  • The generalities continue with
    • The JV “will help improve the satisfaction of our healthcare services for our employees (that could be in terms of costs and outcomes) and possibly help inform public policy for the country.” 
    • Aligning incentives systemwide ‘because we’re getting what we incentivize’
    • “Studying the extraordinary amount of money spent on waste, administration and fraud costs.”
    • “Empowering employees to make better choices and have the best options available by owning their own healthcare data with access to excellent telemedicine options, where more consumer-driven health initiatives can help.”
    • “Developing better wellness programs, particularly around obesity and smoking — they account for approximately 25% of chronic diseases (e.g., cancer, stroke, heart disease and depression).”
    • “Determining why costly and specialized medicine and pharmaceuticals are frequently over- and under-utilized.”
    • “Examining the extraordinary amount of money spent on end-of-life care, often unwanted.”
    • “To attack these issues, we will be using top management, big data, virtual technology, better customer engagement and the improved creation of customer choice (high deductibles have barely worked”).

This Editor has observed from the vantage of the health tech, analytics, payer, and care model businesses that nearly every company has addressed or is addressing all these concerns. So what’s new here? Perhaps the scale, but will they tap into the knowledge base those businesses represent or reinvent the wheel? 

A bad sign is Mr. Dimon’s inclusion of ‘end of life care’. This last point is a prime example of overreach–how many of the JV’s employees are in this situation? The ‘attack’ tactics? We’ve seen, heard, and many of us have been part of similar efforts.

Prediction: This JV may be stuck at the 50,000 foot view. It will take a long time, if ever, to descend and produce the concrete, broadly applicable results that it eagerly promises to its million-plus employees, much less the polity. 

Telehealth policy and reimbursement changes summarized by Center for Connected Health Policy (US)

A significant barrier to the adoption of telehealth (defined here as video consults, store and forward imaging, and remote patient monitoring) is the issue of reimbursement gaps. Basic Medicare (the Federal program for those over 65) pays for video and store and forward only under certain conditions (primarily under rural telehealth programs) but does pay for RPM as part of chronic care management (albeit under a maze of codes and procedures). Medicaid (the state low-income insurance program) is far more lenient, and private pay in states varies widely, with 36 states having some form of parity payment legislation. However, Medicare is planning expansion beyond what is covered in private plans (Medicare Advantage) by 2020. Some Federal programs such as the advanced Next Generation ACO program and the bundled payment Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model have telehealth waivers.

The always-helpful Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) has published a five-page guide to where these programs stand. Becker’s Hospital Review. CCHP PDF 

Rounding up what’s news: LindaCare, TytoCare funding; Medicare telehealth parity, Norway’s big cyberhack, Virta reversing diabetes, DARPA’s 60th birthday

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lasso.jpg” thumb_width=”100″ /]Your Editor’s been away and then largely out of pocket over the past two weeks. Here’s our roundup/catchup beyond the bombshells:

In remote patient monitoring for chronic disease, Philips, PMV, and other investors invested €7 million ($8.6 million) in Belgium’s/Hartford CT’s LindaCare. The Series B funding will accelerate its US expansion of OnePulse for remote monitoring of chronic heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia patients with Cardiac Implanted Electronic Devices (CIED). It is in use in major European hospitals and in US trials, though there is no mention in the release or on their website on CE Marking or FDA clearance/clinical trials. Previously from its 2013 founding, it had €1.6 million in funding. Also Mobihealthnews.

TytoCare, a remote monitoring telehealth/video consult platform which integrates peripherals for a virtual physical exam, raised $25 million in a Series C round led by large Chinese insurer Ping An via their Global Voyager Fund plus Walgreens, Fosun Group, OrbiMed, LionBird, and Cambia Health Solutions. Release. Their total raise is $45.6 million since 2012 (Crunchbase). Their most current partnership is with Long Island-based Allied Physicians Group which is featuring at-home telehealth visits at its pediatric practice in Plainview.

More favorable Medicare reimbursement for telehealth is the subject of four US Congressional bills. The one furthest along is the ‘Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2017’ (S.870), which aims to improve at-home care, increases Medicare Advantage flexibility, gives ACOs more options and expands telehealth capabilities for stroke and dialysis patients. It passed the Senate in September and now goes to the House Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The effect of all four is on Medicare payment parity with in-office visits, which does not currently exist and is not affected by the various state parity bills on insurance for those below 65. American Well touts a 10-fold growth in revenue, but the likelihood of any of these four bills being signed into law is small, particularly with a pending report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Becker’s Hospital Review

Norway released at end of January news on an “advanced and persistent” 8 January cyberattack on Health South East RHF. This has both a health breach and military twist.

(more…)

Humana-Omada Health diabetes prevention program could cut $3 bn in Medicare expense: study

A study performed by insurer Humana using the Omada Health program for diabetes prevention effectively lowered weight, improved cholesterol, blood glucose and mood. 500 volunteer subjects from Humana’s Medicare Advantage program, enrolled during 2015, lost an average of 13 to 14 pounds over a year (7.5 to 8 percent). They also saw improvements in cholesterol levels, blood glucose levels and subjective measures of moods and self-care. Individuals were chosen from administrative medical claims based on metabolic syndrome diagnosis or a combination of three of four of the following diagnoses: prediabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity. Based on the researchers’ calculations, this type of prevention program among this group if widely implemented among overweight adults could reduce Medicare costs by $3 bn over 10 years, not only for diabetes but also heart disease and high blood pressure.

Omada Health’s program included an online small group support, personalized health coaching, digital tracking tools, and a weekly behavior change curriculum. These one-hour lessons focused on a single topic were delivered via laptop, tablet, or smartphone, and included interactive games or exercises, written reflections, and goal-setting activities. The content was approved by the CDC Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program. Data was gathered via wireless scale, pedometer for physical activity, online food intake logging and standard lab results. “In conclusion, this study demonstrated that older adults who agreed to participate in this program were able to engage meaningfully and gain important health and wellness benefits during a relatively short time frame.”

While the cost reduction estimate is exactly that, other studies directionally confirm health improvement and savings: the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) which is the model for the Omada program, the BMJ/Noom Health study, and the Fruit Street/VSee telehealth program being used by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, University of South Florida and University of Michigan. mHealth Intelligence, study (full text in Journal of Aging and Health/Sage Journals)