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My name's Kate Gamble, and I'm Managing Editor here at This Week Health, where we host a set of channels and events dedicated to transforming healthcare, one connection at a time. I'm joined by Sarah Richardson, President of Community Development. Sarah, welcome to the show and happy Friday. Happy Friday, Kate.

And we'll cover key highlights from the article and explore why they matter. So to start off the expiration of temporary telehealth policies introduced during the COVID 19 public health emergency, remember that is going to result in major changes to reimbursement structures, particularly for Medicare beneficiaries.

Many of the flexibilities that allowed widespread telehealth adoption will no longer be in place. And Kate, this is a significant concern because many health systems and providers have built telehealth into their care delivery models. And the question now is how do organizations prepare for the transition while minimizing disruption to patient care and existing revenue streams.

And one of the biggest shifts is going to be the reinstatement of pre pandemic restrictions including originating site requirements. This means patients may no longer be able to access telehealth from their homes and instead must be physically located at a healthcare facility. Which, as we've discussed, could create serious access issues, especially for rural and underserved populations.

I think about the lens of CIO and CMIO and needing to evaluate alternative workflows or advocating for continued policy extensions. And in the meantime, organizations should communicate these changes to both clinicians and patients to avoid confusion. So the reimbursement landscape for telehealth services is shifting, with many providers facing reduced payments or coverage limitations, and this could impact financial sustainability for health systems that have integrated virtual care as a core offering, which is quite a few of them.

It is, and it's not just about the reimbursements, it's also about operational planning. Healthcare finance teams are going to have to work closely with their IT teams to evaluate how telehealth contributes to patient access, provider efficiency, and long term revenue strategies. So another component of this policy shift is that it's gonna require IT teams to reassess security and compliance standards.

So during the PHE, HIPAA enforcement was relaxed to allow providers to use consumer grade platforms like Zoom or FaceTime for telehealth. Moving forward, these flexibilities will no longer be in place requiring a return to fully HIPAA compliant platforms.

This is a big concern for CISOs and CTOs, because the IT teams should be auditing their current telehealth tools, ensuring that encryption, access controls, secure data, transmission protocols are all meeting regulatory requirements, and organizations that failed to address them could face compliance risks and potential penalties, but most organizations have moved away from the, hey, let's get this in place, to proprietary platforms, either embedded within their EHR or integrated effectively, and Even when you've now spent a significant amount of time and money putting a platform in place that meets all regulations and requirements, the usage of it may significantly drop now.

Yeah, that's for sure. And the end of these flexibilities could slow down telehealth innovation and adoption, as you were saying, and that could impact the future of hybrid care models. And I know that, as with a lot of people, I have parents who are older and this is really scary to me because I know that they depend on it.

But organizations are going to have to decide whether to invest in long term telehealth infrastructures or to shift focus to in person services. It's going to be a tough decision for many healthcare leaders, but instead of viewing this as a setback, IT and clinical leadership teams can use it to rethink their digital health strategy.

the big question. So let's talk about some actionable steps for healthcare IT leaders as they navigate those changes. So first, you need to conduct a telehealth impact assessment, identify which services are at risk due to reimbursement or compliance changes, and prioritize accordingly.

Engage with your policy advocacy efforts. So healthcare organizations should be working with industry groups and government agencies to push for Legislative extensions or modifications to telehealth policies. And we know that American Hospital Association, AMA, state level organizations, there are a lot of ways to get involved.

So we need to focus on ensuring financial modeling accounts for potential revenue shifts. So health systems need to explore alternative funding sources such as private payer negotiations or self pay models to offset those reimbursement cuts. And finally, evaluate long term digital health investments.

Consider whether emerging technologies like AI driven virtual triage or remote patient monitoring could enhance your telehealth program while maintaining regulatory compliance. It's a defining moment for telehealth strategy because Some flexibility may be lost in organizations that are planning ahead and adapt to these changes can still drive.

Innovation and maintain high quality virtual care. Okay, you and I often we talk about access and equity and resource availability. We also talk about mental health or behavior health, which could be significantly impacted by this change. Yeah, that's something that's really top of mind for you and I, and a lot of people, mental health platforms will be affected by the upcoming changes in telemedicine rules, particularly with the expiration of certain telehealth flexibilities at the end of this month.

So there are provisions that have been made to support the continuity of mental health services.

And some of the geographic and originating site flexibilities. So medicare beneficiaries can receive mental health telehealth services from their homes without geographic restrictions, which is a policy made permanent to enhance access. And the use of audio only communication for mental health services has been permanently approved, recognizing its importance for patients without access to video capable devices or reliable internet.

When I think about the mental health platforms, continued telehealth services, permanent home based care, the audio only options, these are going to still allow the broadening of accessibility, they're going to allow to meet some of the patients where they are, and also maybe tackle some of the immediate in person home visit requirements, but the whole structure around the behavioral mental health has its own set of implications and things to be considering in your telemedicine programs.

Yeah, it's really well said. And I don't think we can emphasize this enough. I since the pandemic, we've seen statistics with mental health, and we've seen more awareness, which has been positive. But the idea of these services being abandoned, is really scary. So it's so important to focus on that and make that part of the digital health strategy.

So that's all for today's discussion. Stay tuned for our next episode where we'll continue to explore the evolving healthcare technology landscape. Remember to share this podcast with a friend or colleague, use it as a foundation for daily or weekly 📍 discussions on the topics that are relevant to you in the industry.

They can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Sarah, thank you for joining and thank you for listening. That's a wrap.