ATA Outlines Additional Recommendations to Advance Telehealth

The ATA, an organization working to accelerate the adoption of telehealth, recently sent a letter to Congress outlining additional funding and policy changes to address remaining barriers to appropriate virtual care to include in the next COVID-19 relief package. The ATA has worked closely with members, telehealth advocates, and leaders in Congress to ensure previous COVID-19 legislation expanded access to telehealth during this public health emergency.

The ATA’s letter to Congress outlines recommendations to advance and support the expansion of telehealth and digital health technologies, to best support patients and health care providers, including the following:

• additional funding for telehealth infrastructure and coverage to ensure that providers can continue to rapidly scale to serve patients remotely;
• necessary regulatory flexibility for federal health programs to adequately offer telehealth; and
• a seamless experience for patients and providers by ensuring continued access to remote care moving forward.

"Our nation has come to fully recognize the power of telehealth and we urge Congressional leaders to continue working to ensure patients who benefit from telehealth and other remote technologies do not lose essential access to care,” says Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of the ATA. "The new realities of health care delivery in a post–COVID-19 world will necessitate the continued use of telehealth to support social distancing and maximize health care resources. Further, the continuation of many temporary policies, and enactment of new, permanent statutory and regulatory changes, will be needed as America returns to 'normal.'"   

Source: ATA