ICYMI: Consumer Advocates and Health Care Experts Ask Congress to Avert Telehealth Cliff for Millions of Patients and Provide Long-Term Certainty for Virtual Care

Capitol Hill Briefing Highlights How Critical Telehealth Flexibilities Facing Expiration Enable Access to Care, Better Health Outcomes and Cost Savings for Patients and the U.S. Health Care System

On Friday, Telehealth Access for America (TAFA) convened an in-person Capitol Hill briefing, bringing together lawmakers, consumer advocates and healthcare experts to discuss the urgent need to protect telehealth services that have become a lifeline for millions of Americans.

U.S. Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) opened the event, emphasizing the bipartisan nature of support for virtual care and highlighting the critical role of telehealth in addressing healthcare challenges, particularly in rural areas and for mental health services.

A panel of healthcare leaders followed, highlighting the value of pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities, which Congress extended in 2022, and calling for immediate action to make these innovations permanent.

Below are a few key quotes from the briefing:

U.S. Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA-01):

“I would like to make it permanent, and I think it should be permanent, but we have proposed a three-year extension… We hope to have it done in the lame duck session and I think we can get it done.”

“Certainly telehealth plays an important role in making sure we have accessible, affordable, quality healthcare, which we all want… now we want to extend those [Medicare telehealth flexibilities] because they are set to expire.”

“There are a lot of benefits to telehealth, as all of you know. One of the things we talk about all the time in healthcare is the lack of providers and shortage of providers, particularly in rural areas where telehealth is very, very important. … Telehealth is an essential part of healthcare that we need in order to deliver more accessible, affordable, quality health care and that is why it’s important we get it extended.”

Dr. David McSwain, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, UNC Health, participating on behalf of the American Heart Association:

“There is a huge variety of telehealth programs across the country and a huge variety of associated benefits, depending on the specifics of the program. For certain programs, the benefit is convenience. The benefit is not having to take a day off from work, not having to pull your kids out of school, not having to drive to the doctor’s office and sit in a waiting room. For others, it’s management of their chronic illness, avoiding going into the emergency department, avoiding being hospitalized, having multiple specialists available to them for a medical complex condition. And for others, it’s literally lifesaving.”

“Not all of the care that we receive needs to be delivered in-person at all. Some of it can just be touch points, checking in on your medication, asking questions. So if we lose that, what we’re going to see is an exacerbation of chronic illnesses. We will see increases in emergency department visits. But what would be worse is not seeing the increase in emergency department visits, it’s just going to be people that don’t get the care period. … And I think that’s what we really have to be thinking about with this, because we’re going to see these issues that we don’t even realize are there until it’s too late.”

Andrew Scholnick, Government Affairs Director, AARP:

“[Telehealth] is a very useful tool and is not necessarily meant to replace a doctor’s visit for in person care, but it is part of how care can be delivered. … It is often the best option available, sometimes even the only option available, particularly in rural areas or in certain specialties they need to access.”

“[Telehealth] also helps with chronic care management, medication management. You’re much more likely to stay on the regimen if you have the consistent touch points and follow ups with a provider, even if that doesn’t necessitate driving into the doctor’s office every time. It can be that phone call or email or text message or video link on a fairly regular basis. Those short communications really do matter a lot for maintaining drug regimens, treatment regimens, or just maintenance of chronic diseases.”

“[AARP] did a survey polling in the past year, and we actually found of the 50-plus age population, about 70 percent self-reported having done a telehealth visit in the past 12 months, which is huge, and even noticing that change or discrepancy between the quarter of Medicare beneficiaries versus 70 percent including the 50 plus population, that just means that as Gen X starts coming into Medicare, they’re going to be expecting it [because] they already use it.”

Bari Talente, EVP of Advocacy & Healthcare Access, National Multiple Sclerosis Society:

“There’s a neurologist shortage overall across the country, and then as you specialize within that, that shortage becomes much more prominent and much more clear for people who use specialized care. 

And so it can be difficult if you’re in a rural area, sometimes even an urban area, to get access to an MS specialist … telehealth can open up that world and let someone in a rural area be able to integrate that care.”

“Chronic disease management and living with a chronic disease is so hard, and there’s so many different touch points in the healthcare system. … Oftentimes, we can see that a caregiver or care partner may see something that the person living with a chronic disease is not seeing themselves—if there’s a cognitive change, if there’s a change in walking, if someone’s slowing down. For all of us, it’s natural, it takes us longer to recognize or admit those things to ourselves but having that care partner be able to participate in the conversation with a healthcare provider can be really valuable and catch some of those things before they get worse.”

ABOUT TELEHEALTH ACCESS FOR AMERICA

Telehealth Access for America (TAFA) is a public education campaign supported by leaders in health care committed to better care, expanded patient choice, and protecting access to critical telehealth services.

Learn more and take action today at www.telehealthaccessforamerica.org.