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FAH Hospital Policy Blog

Perspectives on health policy affecting America's hospitals and the patients we serve.

Medicaid | Telehealth | FAH Policy Blog Team

FAH Joins Over 400 Other Organizations Urge Congress to Address ‘Telehealth Cliff’

FAH and 429 other organizations sent a letter to Congress to urge policymakers to address the “telehealth cliff.” The letter was co-led by the Alliance for Connected Care, American Telemedicine Association, Consumer Technology Association, eHealth Initiative, HIMSS, Health Innovation Alliance, Partnership to Advance Virtual Care, and PCHAlliance, with FAH signing on.

In the letter to Congress, the signers stress that if there is no action before the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), Medicare beneficiaries will lose access to virtual care options that have become a lifeline to many. The letter calls for Congress to advance permanent telehealth reform focused on specific priorities:

  • Removing arbitrary restrictions on where a patient must be located in order to utilize telehealth services;
  • Ensuring federally qualified health centers, critical access hospitals, and rural health centers can furnish telehealth services;
  • Authorizing the Secretary to allow additional telehealth practitioners, services, and modalities; and
  • Removing restrictions on telemental health services.

Find the complete letter here.