Telehealth at top of health IT legislative agenda

An item atop the legislative agenda would expand Medicare payments for telemedicine services -- which champions of the technology are confident would lower overall health costs in spite of a battle over congressional cost estimators.

Telemedicine is sure to be a component of the House Commerce Committee’s 21st Century Cures package, the committee and lobbyists say. The question is how much change lawmakers will seek. Medicare’s restrictions are so tight that the program paid a mere $12 million for telemedicine in 2014; those who want to free up more money are hampered by the lack of evidence that it will help older Americans while saving Medicare money. The Telehealth Enhancement Act, which has backers in the House and Senate, would waive Medicare’s restrictions for home health services, critical access and sole community hospitals, and in some cases, hospice care, home dialysis patients and homebound seniors. The Medicare Telehealth Parity Act expands coverage of certain services to federally qualified health centers and health clinics in three phases -- covering small, medium and larger metropolitan areas. Which bill will stick depends on the Congressional Budget Office and what it has to say about how much different legislative proposals will cost.