The Medicare Telemedicine Flexibility and Home Acute Hospital Waiver Programs, important programs for the home health industry, are being kept alive through short-term extensions, giving lawmakers reason for hope Tuesday as they proposed a three-year funding package that includes provisions for these programs.
The $1.2 trillion, three-bill bipartisan funding package comes ahead of a Jan. 30 deadline to fully fund the government and would extend both home acute hospital care waiver flexibilities and certain Medicare telehealth flexibilities for three years.
Experts told Home Health Care News that Medicare telehealth's lack of flexibility limits home health providers' potential patient pool and increases administrative burden.
The Home Health Waiver Program, on the other hand, provides a mechanism for home health agencies to partner with broader health systems. A series of short-term extensions supporting the waiver program created uncertainty, caused some health systems to pause participation, and contributed to the closure of Inbound Health, a home health assistance platform that had secured more than $50 million in funding from investors.
A bipartisan funding package that extends both programs is a good sign, said Alexis Apple, deputy executive director of telehealth advocacy group ATA Action and ATA federal vice president.
“We've seen before that even strong bipartisan proposals can run into unexpected hurdles late in the process, which is why it's important not to take any outcome for granted when it comes to Congressional legislation,” Apple said in a statement. “We are optimistic that this bill can move forward because it contains many strong bipartisan priorities and is not tied to the more partisan Homeland Security funding discussions currently underway.”
Both the Medicare telehealth policy and the Home Health Waiver Program have bipartisan support, but political dysfunction prevented them from becoming permanent, Kyle Zebley, CEO of the American Telehealth Association, previously told HHCN.
“Despite our broad bipartisan support, despite how supportive the administration has been saying up and down and the fact that we have no opposition, Congress is so dysfunctional and the federal government so incapacitated to act that we will be victims of that dysfunction,” Zebree said of the telehealth flexibility being lost during the record 43-day government shutdown.
Apple said the new package does not provide telemedicine flexibility or a permanent solution to home hospital programs, but it is a “significant accomplishment.”
“We are now urging strong and swift action and will continue to press until this package is enacted,” Apple said in a statement. “We look forward to the continued strong support of Congress’ bipartisan, bicameral telehealth policy advocates, and from President Trump and his entire administration, to pass this landmark legislation that effectively enacts a multi-year extension of these important telehealth provisions and ensures continued access to telehealth services for patients and providers without interruption.”
