What's Ahead for Health IT Policy and Legislation in 2023

Healthcare IT News | By Andrea Fox
 
With Congress providing telehealth waivers as part of its omnibus spending bill at the close of 2022, delaying the "telehealth cliff" for two years, HIMSS says it's now ready to make the case for permanent reimbursement of virtual care.
 
Also on its policy agenda for the year ahead: advocating for data standardization, offering input for interoperability rulemaking and engaging with agencies and states to increase telehealth access. We spoke with the HIMSS government relations team for their thoughts on those priorities and more in 2023 and beyond.
 
Making telehealth's case for cost control
 
Telehealth has proven to reduce burdens on healthcare providers and improve access and has been a priority for HIMSS for many years, but the Congressional Budget Office has long complained that all of the data has been for non-Medicare patients, explained Tom Leary, senior vice president and head of government relations at HIMSS, parent company of Healthcare IT News.
 
Budget leaders have asked, "How do you really know what the impact on the Medicare population and the Medicare Trust Fund will be? We now have three years of data on the impact to the Medicare Trust Fund," he said.
 
While the pandemic-era telehealth waivers answered many questions at the federal level, the two-year extension to offer telehealth in high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts included in the final legislative package of 2022 has opened a new window to pursue making the changes permanent. 
 
HIMSS will "use the next two years to gather additional data to inform both Congress and CBO on either the cost of avoidance or the cost control aspects," said Leary.
 
In addition to making telehealth coverage permanent, simplifying access for patients is another goal for the mission-driven non-profit, whose goal is to reform the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology

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