Telehealth News and Market Developments
Health Data Management: Why It's Crucial to Solve Challenges Stalling Digital Health Adoption (4/7) - In recent years, digital health has made significant strides, with several use cases demonstrating its potential to transform health care. However, there is still a fixation on the legacy CPT/encounter-driven workflows. Dr. John Lee, chief medical information officer of Allegheny Health Network, notes the enormous structural issues that impede progress, such as the payment model, usability, workflow engineering and plain old inertia. Dr. Lee emphasizes the need to address all of these factors before telehealth solutions are successful.
Bloomberg Law: Telehealth Industry Pushes Back on DEA Prescribing Proposal (4/6) - Telemedicine advocates are urging the DEA to reel in plans to reintroduce pre-pandemic restrictions on prescribing of controlled substances via telehealth. In response to a proposed rule, telemedicine companies and health care providers say the reintroduction of an in-person visitation requirement would be onerous to providers and could limit access to medically necessary care for patients who rely on online providers for long term-treatments. The rule has drawn more than 30,000 comments from telemedicine industry advocates, critics, and stakeholders on Regulations.gov.
MedPage Today: Experts Express 'Grave Concerns' Over DEA's Proposed Telemedicine Rule (4/5) - Medical organizations and stakeholders highlight concerns about the disruptions in access to critically needed medications, arguing the DEA proposed rule could do more harm than good. Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, president-elect of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), has called for the DEA to eliminate the in-person requirement. James Madara, MD, CEO and executive vice president of the American Medical Association (AMA), expressed concern about the 30-day requirement.
New York Times: How to Prepare for the Proposed Changes to Telehealth Prescriptions (4/5) - During the pandemic, the expansion of telemedicine proved transformative for many people, especially those in rural areas. It allowed patients to receive medical care and prescriptions virtually, without the need to meet a provider in person. The New York Times interviewed Dr. Shabana Khan, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the chairwoman of the American Psychiatric Association’s committee on telepsychiatry, to help people who take mental health medications understand the anticipated changes and how to adjust for them.
Roll Call: Proposed DEA Restrictions on Telehealth Will Accelerate America's Opioid Crisis (4/4) - Patrick Kennedy, a former Democratic Congressman, calls for "Cabinet-level leadership" to support medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment via telehealth. In an op-ed, Kennedy highlights that, with telehealth, patients are able to stay in treatment longer than patients treated in-person. Kennedy recommends the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) be reinstated to a Cabinet-level position.
"A fair interpretation of DEA’s proposed rule is that the DEA feels telemedicine-only OUD care should remain illegal, even though it’s well-supported to be safe and effective. Their requirement of in-person physical contact with a DEA-registered health care provider in order to continue tele-OUD care has no rational purpose for patient care or safety. There is no medical necessity of in-person contact to provide an OUD diagnosis or prescription. Either the DEA misunderstands the value of direct physical contact in treating OUD or perhaps the unstated goal is to limit buprenorphine access through yet another unnecessary barrier."
Prism Reports: Substance Use Treatment, Gender-Affirming Care, and More at Risk Under Proposed DEA Rules (4/4) - Physicians and patients say recent DEA proposed rules could hinder treatment to people with opioid use disorder; poor, disabled, or trans patients; and those in rural areas. Kimberly Vered Shashoua, a gender-affirming therapist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker operating in Texas and North Carolina, said patients have appreciated that they can discuss difficult topics in the comfort of their own home, and the therapist said they also favor telehealth appointments during a symptom flare. The DEA's proposed rule would limit access to testosterone, a Schedule III controlled substance. Vered Shashoua said many of their rural transmasculine patients would have to drive hours to find a medical center that would prescribe hormone replacement therapy.
mHealth Intelligence: Boosting Pediatric Mental Health Care Through School-Based Telehealth (4/3) - To address the growing youth mental health crisis, health care providers are enacting various strategies to extend access to behavioral health care. One such strategy is partnering with schools to set up telebehavioral health care programs. North Carolina-based Atrium Health is one example of a system providing school-based telehealth services. Bringing needed behavioral health care to kids where they spend most of the day has provided numerous benefits, including shortening the time between a referral and an appointment.
Healio: DEA Telehealth Guidelines Should Facilitate Access to Controlled Substances (3/31) - The American Psychiatric Association (APA) urged the DEA to ensure access to controlled drugs via telehealth. Other recommendations include reducing administrative requirements and restrictions on prescribing when temporarily out of state, eliminating the regulation of clinical decisions and clarifying inconsistencies in the proposed rule.
“At-home induction of buprenorphine has become the standard of care to achieve optimal outcomes. There is no evidence that telemedicine prescribing during the COVID-19 public health emergency increased diversion or negative outcomes associated with access to controlled substances." Dr, Saul Levin, APA CEO and medical director.
Stat News: Trans Health Care Faces New Obstacle With End of COVID Public Health Emergency (3/31) - The end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) could further jeopardize the health and safety of trans people across the country. The most immediate concern with regard to the end of the public health emergency centers on changes to telehealth practices that could impact trans men and others who may take testosterone. During the pandemic, telehealth providers were permitted to prescribe gender-affirming prescriptions for testosterone due to the suspension of the Ryan Haight Act, which typically requires patients to make an in-person visit in order to receive a prescription for controlled substances. Finding adequate, in-person gender-affirming care can be difficult if not impossible in many parts of the country.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: The Pandemic Underscored Why We Need Equitable Telemental Health Services (3/3) - In this blog, Daniel Do, a RWJF Health Policy Research Scholar, shares how the investment in telehealth services can help expand access to mental health. He recommends Congress and the Biden Administration make a significant investment in technology in community health centers, training programs for BIPOC communities, and distribution of technology such as smartphones or tablets within these communities, to ensure that vulnerable communities can access telehealth services.
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