April 16, 2022. That’s the date the current public health emergency (PHE) is set to expire. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initially promised to provide 60 days’ notice to states and health care organizations before ending the PHE. However, the Biden administration has been mum on its plans regarding the PHE and has given no indication on whether they will extend the PHE again, leaving stakeholders in doubt as to what will happen to the many temporary health policies that are tied to the PHE.
Background: HHS declared a PHE for the COVID-19 pandemic on January 31, 2020. Since then, the PHE has been renewed by HHS eight times in 90-day increments with the most recent renewal being on January 14, 2022.my
The conversation over whether to renew the PHE couldn’t be timelier, as a growing number of federal and state officials have been discussing plans to loosen COVID-19 restrictions as the US shifts to treating COVID-19 as an endemic than a pandemic. For example, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the President, recently commented that the US is exiting the “full-blow” pandemic phase of the COVID-19 crisis, and a number of blue states and cities have begun to announce plans to roll-back certain pandemic requirements like indoor masking. Additionally, over 70 Republican members of Congressman sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra last week requesting for a concrete timeline on when the PHE will come to an end.
However, ending the PHE is no simple matter. That’s because numerous temporary policies related to telehealth, COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, and Medicaid are specifically tied to the PHE. In this blog post, we’ll focus on telehealth, while COVID-19 treatments and Medicaid will be covered in future installments.
The CARES Act notably expanded Medicare coverage of telehealth services to make it easier for beneficiaries to access health care services while minimizing the exposure to COVID-19. These temporary changes include:
- Waiving Medicare’s geographic site originating requirement to allow beneficiaries to access telehealth in all settings.
- Allowing audiologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and other providers to provide telehealth services under Medicare.
- Coverage of telehealth services conducted through audio-only technology like telephones and audio-visual technology like smartphone in more instances.
- Reimbursement of 238 telehealth services, compared to 202 prior to the PHE.
- Coverage of telehealth services without a pre-existing doctor-patient relationship.
However, all these temporary changes and waivers will expire once the PHE ends. While members of Congress have put forth multiple legislative proposals to extend Medicare’s temporary telehealth provisions beyond the PHE, few have gained traction. Adding to the uncertainty is the administration’s lack of communication on whether to renew the PHE another 90 days leaving both providers and beneficiaries in limbo over the status of temporary telehealth flexibilities.
That’s why stakeholders are pushing for the PHE to stick around after April. On February 10, the Federal of American Hospitals sent a letter to HHS requesting that the PHE be extended “well beyond” its current expiration date in two months’ time. FAH argued that an abrupt end to PHE-authorized operations like telehealth run the risk of “destabilizing fragile health care networks” as these temporary measures have been in place for about two years allowing for patients to rely on their care.
And over the course of the past two years, telehealth usage has surged to the point that it now plays a vital role in the way people access health care. According to HHS, telehealth utilization saw a 63-fold increase in 2020. The adoption of telehealth in behavioral health was particularly noticeable, which saw about a third of its visits done remotely in 2020. While telehealth usage has declined somewhat since 2020 and outpatient visits have returned to pre-pandemic levels, overall telehealth utilization remains elevated compared to 2019 levels, and patients and providers don’t want to give up this health care tool that benefited so many patients.