Mass. health care leaders want RFK Jr. to expand telehealth
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Massachusetts hospital leaders met Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s request for deregulation suggestions with a wish list that includes reducing telehealth restrictions.
The big picture: The controversial Health and Human Services secretary is accepting input from hospitals and health care groups nationwide to cut red tape.
State of play: The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA) sent its wish list last week, asking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to standardize the process for obtaining prior authorization across health plans, reviving certain home health programs and expanding telehealth.
- The MHA also asked the federal government to eliminate prior authorization requirements for Medicare Advantage patients who receive certain services after they're discharged from a hospital.
Zoom in: Telehealth has become increasingly common since the COVID-19 pandemic, but several barriers to access and coverage remain, health officials say.
- The MHA's asks range from expanding coverage for audio-only telehealth to letting more practitioners perform telehealth visits and get paid (think occupational therapy, physical therapy or speech-language pathology appointments).
The MHA also asked the CMS to revive a pandemic-era program that lets patients do cardiac or pulmonary rehab from home, among other programs that have since lapsed.
What they're saying: Adam Delmolino, who authored the MHA letter, said in a statement to Axios that telehealth and hospital-at-home services "are solutions that patients and providers continue to rely upon every day, especially given Massachusetts' aging population and the enormous capacity constraints being felt across hospitals statewide."
Zoom out: Kennedy has previously expressed support for telehealth, in part to increase health care access in rural communities.
- He and other federal officials pledged last month to cut red tape that complicates the prior authorization process.
- That pledge includes standardizing electronic prior authorization requests, reducing the number of medical services that require it and ensuring medical professionals review all clinical denials, NPR reported.
Yes, but: The focus of MHA's request for information (RFI) is to cut red tape and spending, which may not bode well for requests to revive old programs.
- The executive order that sparked the RFI called for implementing the 10-to-1 rule, meaning that "for every new regulation introduced, at least 10 existing regulations must be eliminated."
What we're watching: It remains to be seen how quickly the Trump administration will work to make telehealth more accessible in 2025, and what gets cut in the process.