The Bipartisan Policy Center is examining the best path forward to address coverage of telehealth services beyond the public health emergency. With support from the Peterson Center on Healthcare and Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Health Project is building on its previous federal policy recommendations to expand access to telehealth services, featured in two reports— Confronting Rural America's Health Care Crisis and Tackling America's Mental Health and Addiction Crisis Through Primary Care Integration.
BPC believes that sustainable policy recommendations must be informed by current thinking across a spectrum of stakeholders and is seeking information and inviting comments for solutions that will help shape this next phase of work.
In response to COVID-19, policymakers and administrators introduced numerous telehealth flexibilities that expanded access to health care services and prevented health care delivery disruptions. As the country returns to a new normal, Congress is actively debating what the telehealth policy environment should look like moving forward and whether to maintain the new flexibilities. Telehealth services, while serving to maintain access to care during the pandemic, have yet to be fully understood in terms of impacts on cost, quality, and clinical outcomes.
Please share your responses by 11:59 pm ET on Friday, January 14, 2021. We look forward to hearing your feedback.