American Telemedicine Association Urges Telehealth Changes for Medicare Chronic Care

Response by ATA acknowledges Senate Finance Committee’s Leadership in Addressing Medicare Chronic Care Provisions

PRWEB – February 01, 2016 – American Telemedicine Association (ATA) today responded to sections of the Bipartisan Chronic Care Working Group’s policy options document, issued by the Senate Finance Committee in December. That document outlined ways in which Medicare could be reformed to better manage chronic diseases in patients. Several key changes to telemedicine were then outlined.

Today’s response by ATA acknowledges the Senate Finance Committee’s leadership in addressing Medicare chronic care provisions, as well as its responsiveness to ATA’s earlier recommendations regarding the use of innovation and technology to improve care to Medicare beneficiaries. The ATA response strongly recommends a soon to be introduced Senate bill, the Clinical Opportunities for Novel and Necessary Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act, with the active involvement of three Committee members. This bill would address important opportunities for video, remote patient monitoring, and other telecommunications tools to improve Medicare chronic care and the delivery of other care.

Regarding Medicare chronic care, the ATA strongly supports:

–    telehealth and remote patient monitoring services as a basic benefits under Medicare’s managed care program, called Medicare Advantage;

–    that the Medicare restrictions on telehealth in Medicare law be waived and remote patient monitoring covered for the accountable care organization program; and

–    better coverage for Telehealth and Remote Monitoring for value-based payment models, notably Medicare Advantage plans and accountable care organizations

“Sen. Brian Schatz’s bill to expand lower-cost, higher value-based health care services helps to bring us into the 21st century,” stated ATA CEO Jonathan Linkous. “Having Medicare reimburse for these services would instantly improve the quality of health care being delivered today.”

The American Telemedicine Association is the leading international resource and advocate promoting the use of advanced remote medical technologies. ATA and its diverse membership work to fully integrate telemedicine into healthcare systems to improve quality, equity and affordability of healthcare throughout the world. Established in 1993, ATA is headquartered in Washington, DC. For more information, please visit http://ift.tt/14u2IPd.

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