Alliance for Connected Care

The Alliance for Connected Care has urged the DEA to protect Americans without interfering in medical decision-making best left to a practitioner and patient.?We are concerned that this proposal, which includes provisions that would effectively end telehealth access for some patients, does not strike that balance. Its notable that the regulatory docket for this issue has now grown to more than 41,000 comment letters – the majority of which appear to share our concerns. - Chris Adamec, Alliance for Connected Care https://lnkd.in/eA5Uz8cd

This evening, the Senate passed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 with provisions to extend Medicare #telehealth access until September 30, 2025. The House passed this legislation earlier this week. It now heads to the President's desk to be signed into law.

Researchers from the Michigan Medicine released a pre-print paper examining traditional #Medicare claims for?“evaluation and management” before and after the pandemic and concludes that despite a growth in #telehealth use this did not lead to growth in E&M use. Another paper?analyzed claims and concludes that expanding telehealth use may reduce downstream Medicare costs. Chad Ellimoottil, MD, MS James D. Lee, MD, MPH Terrence Liu Rodney Dunn Jeffrey McCullough Mike Thompson @Chiang-Hua Chang

Epic Research maintains a resource, aimed to provide insight into ongoing trends in the #utilization of #telehealth. ??Key Takeaways ?? Following the exponential rise in telehealth usage in early 2020, telehealth?utilization?began to decrease and has since settled into a more consistent rate. #Mentalhealth continues to have the highest use of telehealth, capping at around 35% utilization. Other specialties experience less than 15% of telehealth utilization. ??What does this mean??? The expansion of telehealth services is not increasing overall quantity of services for patients. Telehealth is being used as another modality providers can utilize to bring care to the #Medicare population. In 2022, an Alliance for Connected Care-commissioned analysis which had similar findings. https://lnkd.in/gWnkdsY5 https://lnkd.in/gvw4z_fr

Rep. Jodey C. Arrington Fights for Future of Rural Health Care House Budget Chairman Arrington (TX-19) introduced the Telehealth Expansion Act, which would allow over 32 million Americans with High-Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) paired with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to?access?telehealth services before reaching the burden of meeting a deductible. "The Alliance for Connected Care is proud to support the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2025, which will ensure #employers and plans can support patients through discounted #virtual #access to a range of #healthcare services.?This bill is important and timely, as it would restore crucial access to #telehealth lost in December 2024.?We look forward to working to ensure provisions from this bill are included in an upcoming legislative package.” —?Christopher J Adamec, Executive Director, Alliance for Connected Care https://lnkd.in/gffHgc7F Jonathan Kupperman

“The Alliance for Connected Care is proud to support the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2025, which will ensure employers and plans can support patients through discounted virtual access to a range of health care services.?This bill is important and timely, as it would restore crucial access to telehealth lost in December 2024.?We look forward to working to ensure provisions from this bill are included in an upcoming legislative package,”—?Christopher J Adamec, Executive Director, Alliance for Connected Care

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced the Telehealth Expansion Act. The “Telehealth?Expansion Act of 2025” will?permanently allow first-dollar coverage of #virtualcare under high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) paired with a health savings account (HSA) all Americans?to access?#telehealth?services without the burden of first meeting a?deductible. “The Alliance for Connected Care is proud to support the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2025, which will ensure employers and plans can support patients through discounted virtual access to a range of health care services.?This bill is important and timely, as it would restore crucial access to telehealth lost in December 2024.?We look forward to working to ensure provisions from this bill are included in an upcoming legislative package,”—?Christopher J Adamec, Executive Director, Alliance for Connected Care https://lnkd.in/g2BxRC97

Fierce Healthcare: Advocates lean on Trump's telehealth legacy to extend expiring flexibilities Emma Beavins Three hundred and fifty organizations signed a?letter?to congressional leadership Monday urging lawmakers to extend expiring Medicare #telehealth flexibilities and to restore telehealth #access lost by commercially insured patients in December. “We are very much subject to the larger conversation,” Christopher J Adamec, executive director of the Alliance for Connected Care, explained in an interview. The biggest factor is Congress’s March 14 funding deadline. “If Congress were to fail to extend telehealth, they would be shooting the administration in the foot and their efforts to address chronic disease and scale highly efficient interventions,” Adamec said. https://lnkd.in/ewjB5rqA

Axios: Telehealth advocates turn up the pressure as Medicare deadline nears Maya Goldman Providers, patients and digital health companies are ramping up their calls for more certainty that Medicare will continue to reimburse them for #telehealth. A coalition of nearly 350 organizations, sent a letter to Congressional leadership on Monday, urging them to make expanded #Medicare telehealth #access permanent or at least available for the long term. https://lnkd.in/eefTb8NM

The Alliance for Connected Care has asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to intervene on proposed Drug Enforcement Agency e-prescribing rules, urging broader telehealth access. #telehealth #telehealthpolicy #prescribing #access