The Kaiser Family Foundation recently looked at state trends related to expanding access to telehealth-based behavioral care during the pandemic and found that states see telemedicine as a key component of maintaining access to behavioral health care for Medicaid enrollees.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
In the KFF survey of state Medicaid programs, researchers say, they don’t just extend telehealth benefits — such as providing audio-only coverage for services behavioral health services, group therapy and drug therapy — but also add several types of providers, the researchers said in the issue summary.
They found that usage was down from its peak, but still higher than it was before the pandemic.
Some states have higher behavioral telehealth usage in rural areas, among younger enrollees, or among whites.
The KFF said that while most states report that they are likely to continue to maintain a wide range of telehealth policies as a result of the pandemic, all responding states have done little. at least one policy action, the KFF said.
Notably, as of July 2022, all state Medicaid programs offered at least some sound-only coverage for behavioral health.
The researchers also found that Medicaid policies regarding authorized services, providers, and origin sites vary widely, and that “remote payment policy is unclear in many states” state.”
Several states have reported “restricting or adding protective measures to telemedicine behavioral health flexibility during the pandemic,” the researchers added.
TREND TO BIGGER
The KFF noted that the 2022 bipartisan Safer Communities Act legislation requires the federal government to issue telehealth guidance by the end of 2023 and the multimedia spending bill that Congress passed last month included a number of provisions affecting behavioral health remotely.
While states differ on how they regulate synchronous and asynchronous telemedicine, according to the American Telemedicine Association, the organization is advocating for equitable payment for telehealth as well as licensing flexibility between states.
“ATA is committed to implementing method-neutral policies,” said Quinn Shean, strategic advisor at Tusk Ventures and public policy advisor to ATA and ATA Action during a virtual discussion on care policy. telehealth after the pandemic.
ATA welcomed telehealth flexibility in its recent multi-party appropriations bill, thanking congressional leaders in particular for including provisions deferring direct health claims. Medicare telehealth for two years.
“The hard work continues, as we persistently advance the health care permanence from the start,” said Kyle Zebley, ATA senior vice president of public policy at ATA Action and chief executive officer. and create a lasting barrier to the remote healthcare cliff.”
ON PROFILE
In line with responses to the KFF’s 2022 Medicaid budget survey, many states reported permanent adoption (i.e. non-urgent) openings, the researchers said in the press conference. expand the primary telehealth policy enacted during the pandemic on an interim basis.”
“In particular,” they said, “states often note that all or most of the expansion of behavioral health providers and/or services authorized for telehealth will maintained after the public health emergency.”
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS.
