Telehealth Archives - Page 15 of 35

Telehealth

DOJ’s Enforcement Activity Against Individuals: Acute Focus on Telemedicine

by Amandeep S. Sidhu, James A. Cannatti III and Theodore Alexander | May 6, 2019 | Telehealth

DOJ’s focus on individual accountability is particularly important with respect to telemedicine. Telemedicine is a burgeoning field, with a projected market increase of 18 percent annually over the next six years, reaching $103 billion in 2024. In light of this recent surge in profitability, DOJ has begun paying extra attention to telemedicine, with at least one recent HHS-OIG report asserting that more than one-third of all telemedicine claims are improper.

The report’s claim is further supported by a recent increase in telemedicine prosecutions. In April 2019, DOJ announced charges against 24 defendants, including owners of various telemedicine companies, for their alleged involvement in a health care fraud scheme resulting in $1.2 billion in loss. This scheme involved the payment of kickbacks and bribes by durable medical equipment (DME) companies to medical professionals working with telemedicine companies, in exchange for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries. DOJ alleges that the defendants paid doctors to prescribe medically unnecessary DME without ever seeing patients or after only a brief telephone conversation. The prosecution involves charges in at least seven districts across the United States, including New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and California. Additionally, DOJ prosecuted several other individuals in connection with unrelated telemedicine schemes in late 2018 (see the agency’s press releases here, here and here). In light of this recent trend, companies should exercise extreme caution and consult with regulatory experts prior to opening telemedicine practices. Companies can expect to see increased scrutiny and further prosecution of telemedicine companies moving forward.

Practice Note: DOJ has recently re-emphasized its willingness to exercise significant discretion and reward companies that invest in strong compliance programs. Looking forward, health care companies should maintain detailed and up-to-date documentation of all compliance programs, in case such an FCA case should arise. A lawyer should be consulted if an updated compliance program is needed.

This blog post was originally published in McDermott’s Health Care Enforcement Quarterly Roundup | Q1 2019. Click here to view the full report.

Around the Corner in Digital Health: What’s Next for Care Coordination & Reimbursement?

by McDermott Will & Emery | Apr 29, 2019 | Telehealth

The end of 2018 and the first months of 2019 brought a number of regulatory developments impacting care coordination and the adoption and reimbursement of digital health services. From the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care and Pathways to Success initiatives to the updated Physician Fee Schedule, speakers Dale Van Demark and Lisa Schmitz Mazur discuss the rules and regulations that have the potential to enhance or hinder access to digital health solutions and how digital health companies can position themselves for success in this evolving regulatory landscape.

Click here to listen to this episode of the Of Digital Interest podcast.

Digital Health Drives Forward – A Roadmap of Regulations

by McDermott Will & Emery | Feb 14, 2019 | Telehealth

New digital health regulations arose at the federal and state level in 2018, bolstering the existing legal framework to further support and encourage digital health adoption in the context of care coordination and the move to value-based payment. McDermott’s 2018 Digital Health Year in Review: Focus on Care Coordination and Reimbursement report – the second in a four-part series – highlighted these developments within the digital health landscape. These efforts brought changes to coverage of telehealth and other virtual care services, as well as information gathering for regulatory reform, and can help bridge the gap between research, funding and implementation as regulations build a framework within which companies can deploy their products, receive reimbursement and demonstrate value to patients. Here we outline digital health developments from the second half of 2018 and how they can help drive digital health forward in 2019. For a closer look at key care coordination and reimbursement developments that shaped digital health in 2018, along with planning considerations and predictions for the digital health frontier in the year ahead, download our full report.

To view the first report in the series, 2018 Digital Health Year in Review: Focus on Data, click here.

Expanded Telemedicine Services Presented as Means to Address Opioid Crisis in New Legislation

by Lisa Mazur | Nov 7, 2018 | General Interest, Telehealth

Last week, President Trump signed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT Act), a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to tackle the opioid crisis by, among other approaches, increasing the use of telemedicine services to treat addiction. Several key provisions are summarized below.

The package includes provisions to expand public reimbursement for telemedicine services that focus on addiction treatment. Specifically, the legislation removes Medicare’s originating site requirement for substance abuse treatment provided via telemedicine, meaning that health professionals can receive Medicare reimbursement even if the patient is not located in a rural area. In addition, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been directed to issue guidance to states regarding possible ways that Medicaid programs can receive federal reimbursement for treating substance abuse via telemedicine. The legislation explicitly identifies services provided via a hub and spoke model and in school-based health centers, among others, as those that should be eligible for federal reimbursement.

In another development, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is now required to implement regulations regarding a special registration process for telemedicine providers within one year of the passage of the SUPPORT Act. The aim of this process is to expand health providers’ ability to prescribe controlled substances to patients in need of substance use disorder treatment based on a telemedicine consultation, without having to conduct an in-person evaluation first. This special registration process was originally contemplated 10 years ago under the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 (Ryan Haight Act) as one of the seven pathways through which a telemedicine provider could prescribe a controlled substance to his/her patient without having first conducted an in-person evaluation, but the DEA never issued any regulations to effectuate it. At present, the special registration process and requirements (e.g., registration costs, application processing timeline, provider qualifications) are still largely unknown. The answers to these open issues will determine how accessible this new registration pathway will be to substance use disorder providers and, therefore, how impactful it will be in connecting patients in need of substance use disorder treatment with qualified providers.

In addition to these policy reforms, the SUPPORT Act also directs government agencies to conduct additional research into the possible benefits of telemedicine technology for treating substance abuse. Both CMS and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) are tasked with publishing reports concerning the use of telemedicine technology for treating children: CMS is directed to analyze how to reduce barriers to adopting such technology, and GAO is directed to evaluate how states can increase the number of Medicaid providers that treat substance use disorders via telemedicine in school-based clinics. Furthermore, the Department of Health and Human Services must issue a report regarding the impact of using telemedicine services to treat opioid addiction within five years.

Telehealth-Related Updates Included in 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

by Lisa Mazur | Nov 7, 2018 | General Interest, Telehealth

On November 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) issued final rules for updating the 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule to implement recent telehealth-related legislative reforms. As reported in our Digital Health Mid-Year Report: Focus on Medicare, these changes are expected to have a material impact on the ability of providers to receive payment for delivering telehealth services. Certain key changes are highlighted below:

Qualified providers may be reimbursed when providing telehealth services for stroke and kidney disease—even when patients are located in their own homes.
Qualified providers may receive a small amount of reimbursement for holding “virtual check-in[s]” with patients and when they evaluate recorded video and images from an established patient. CMS noted that these changes are aimed at allowing providers to help determine whether an in-person visit or additional follow-up is needed. Doing so “increase[s] efficiency for practitioners and convenience for beneficiaries.”
CMS also issued an interim final rule related to the recently-signed SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that was passed to combat the opioid crisis. Similar to the Bipartisan Budget Act, the SUPPORT Act removed the originating site requirement for substance abuse and related mental health treatments. There is a 60-day comment period before this rule will be finalized.

Together, these rules represent a substantial expansion of Medicare reimbursement for services provided via telehealth. For additional guidance on how to interpret and implement these new changes, please contact your regular McDermott attorney.

CMS Proposes New Telehealth Guidelines and RADV Extrapolation for MAOs

by Kate McDonald, Mary Moll Alexandre and McDermott Will & Emery | Nov 2, 2018 | Telehealth

On October 26, 2018, CMS released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressing expanded telehealth coverage in Medicare Advantage, extrapolation of RADV audit results, and updates to the Medicare Advantage and Part D Quality Star Ratings program, among other topics. If finalized, the regulations set forth in the Proposed Rule would impact not only Medicare Advantage and Part D plan sponsors but also a broad range of providers and health care companies, particularly those involved in the provision or delivery of telehealth services.

CMS is accepting comments on the Proposed Rule through December 31, 2018.

Access the full article.

The RUSH Act – Another Advancement in Telehealth Acceptance?

by Dale C. Van Demark | Oct 31, 2018 | Telehealth

As previously noted in our Digital Health Mid-Year Review, 2018 has seen greater acceptance of telemedicine within the Medicare program. Both regulatory and statutory changes have expanded reimbursement opportunities and, consequentially, opportunities for the deployment of telemedicine technologies. As we noted then, however, improvement in the Medicare reimbursement environment for telemedicine services has been tied to a policy goal of not increasing utilization unnecessarily. We noted in our Mid-Year Review that Congress appears to be following MedPac’s recent guidance that Congress “should take a measured approach to further incorporating telehealth into Medicare by evaluating individual telehealth services to assess their capacity to address. . . cost reduction, access expansion, and quality improvement.”

The recently introduced Reducing Unnecessary Senior Hospitalizations Act of 2018 (the RUSH Act), seems to deviate from MedPac’s suggested approach. The RUSH Act seeks to avoid hospitalizations through a program that creates financial incentives for providing certain nonsurgical services furnished by hospital emergency departments at skilled nursing facilities that are qualified to provide such services by the Secretary of Health and Human Services The RUSH Act specifically refers to the possibility that some of these services could be provided by licensed practitioners “through the use of telehealth.” Interestingly, the RUSH Act does not specify what telehealth services should be allowable or how they should be reimbursed; rather, the RUSH Act leaves these matters for agency determination.

According to Representative Diane Black (TN), one of the bill’s sponsors, “[t]here are companies who are ready and able to provide this innovative care. . . . These positive disruptors just need Medicare’s payment policies to catch up with the technology. . . giving [nursing homes] the technology-enabled tools needed to lower health care costs and, most importantly, save lives.”

As an observer of this industry, I tend to agree with this claim, but under the approach taken by this bill, that determination will need to be made by the Department of Health and Human Services. Digital health companies looking for a better reimbursement environment are well-advised to focus on the bottom line of federal health policy–lower cost, improved care and increased access.

Live Digital Health Webinar Series – Part 3: Leveraging Digital Health Solutions in Research

by McDermott Will & Emery | Oct 29, 2018 | Big Data, Data Privacy, Telehealth

Join us on November 8, 2018, for the third installment of McDermott’s live webinar series on digital health. In this installment, partners Bernadette M. Broccolo, Jiayan Chen and Vernessa T. Pollard will explore opportunities for accelerating biomedical research, development and commercialization through digital health tools and solutions, such as end-user license agreements (EULAs), wearables and mobile apps, telemedicine, and big data exchange and analytics. They will discuss tactics for overcoming challenges related to these new approaches, as well as evolving compliance issues, including:

Privacy and security
Human subject protection
The US Food and Drug Administration pre-market approval regime

They will also review alternative compliance and contracting strategies for managing risk while capturing opportunity from the perspective of key stakeholders, such as sponsors, investigators, research sites and digital health developers.

Click here to register for this event.

Illinois Medicaid Program Expands Telehealth Reimbursement Increasing Access to Behavioral Health and Other Critical Services

by Lisa Mazur | Sep 5, 2018 | Telehealth

In an effort to address the need for increased access to behavioral health services, Illinois has passed a series of bills that meaningfully expand the reimbursement of telehealth services delivered to its Medicaid patients. Illinois’ legislators, telemedicine advocates, healthcare providers and patient advocacy groups collaborated in an impressive effort to develop focused and targeted legislative solutions that effectively balance the need to get critical behavioral health services to patients in need with long-standing concerns that increasing access via telehealth will result in greater health care costs to a state already experiencing severe financial challenges.

Governor Bruce Rauner advised that these “initiatives work together to improve the quality of care and hopefully the quality of life for so many Illinoisans suffering from mental health and substance use disorders.” Supporters of the legislation are optimistic that these changes will further expand telehealth programs in Illinois, continuing the growth experienced in the past several years.

As a result of changes to the Illinois Public Aid Code (305 ILCS 5/5-5.25), the following will receive reimbursement from the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (“Department”) for delivering telehealth services that meet applicable requirements:

Clinical psychologists
Clinical social workers
Advanced practice registered nurses certified in psychiatric and mental health nursing
Mental health professionals and clinicians who are authorized by Illinois law to provide mental health services to recipients via telehealth (in addition to psychiatrists and federally qualified health centers)

The Department is also required to reimburse any Medicaid certified eligible facility or provider organization that acts as the originating site (i.e., the location of the patient at the time a telehealth service is rendered), including substance abuse centers licensed by the Department of Human Services’ Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse.

In addition to these changes, the Illinois Telehealth Act’s definition of a “Health care professional” (225 ILCS 150/5) has been revised to include dentists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, physical therapists, clinical social workers, speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and hearing instrument dispensers. As a result of this change, these professionals are now explicitly subject to the Illinois Telehealth Act’s requirements.

Finally, the Illinois Insurance Code (215 ILCS 5/356z.22) has been amended to require that any individual or group policy of accident or health insurance that provides coverage for telehealth services also provide coverage for telehealth services provided by licensed dietitian nutritionists and certified diabetes educators to senior diabetes patients. The amended section clearly states that this change is intended to “remove the hurdle of transportation for senior diabetes patients to receive treatment.” While this change is a step in the right direction, Illinois remains in the minority as one of the states without a telehealth coverage and/or payment parity law. The vast majority of states have parity laws that, at a minimum, include a coverage requirement, mandating certain types of payors to approve and reimburse certain telehealth encounters the same as they would in-person medical encounters.

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The Illinois legislators who sponsored the passed legislation will be recognized for their efforts [...]

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Mid-Year Digital Health Report: Focus on Medicare

by Dale C. Van Demark, Lisa Mazur, Marshall E. Jackson, Jr. and Michael W. Ryan | Jul 30, 2018 | Telehealth

It has been only a little over six months, and already 2018 has been a busy year for digital health, particularly in the area of Medicare reimbursement. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) have all contributed to make 2018 extraordinary.