New Normal of Virtual Care Delivery

Virtual care has long been touted as a way to expand access to care and to improve efficiency, coordination, and flexibility of care. Virtual care tools such as telehealth and remote patient monitoring allow clinicians to furnish care and monitor patients’ status more consistently and conveniently. However, successfully integrating virtual care into care delivery requires building patient and clinician trust, alongside other critical elements, such as data and technology infrastructure and interoperability.

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Recommendations

Access, Efficiency, & Flexibility

  • Infrastructure/Equity – Congress should provide additional funding to the FCC and to HRSA to expand the reach of, and eligibility for, the Rural Healthcare Program, the Telehealth Network and Telehealth Resource Centers, and the Telehealth Network Grant Program. 
  • Interoperability – HHS should continue to work with stakeholders to promote interoperability and patient access/sharing ability to health care information.
  • Authority – HHS and Congress should permanently lift many of the current barriers to the use of virtual care in the Medicare FFS program with focus on increased access, value and flexibility, including site of service restrictions, modality restrictions, and supervisory requirements. Additionally, States should consider what flexibilities should be maintained post-COVID-19, based on the unique circumstances and characteristics of their state populations.

 

Patient Experience and Trust

  • Digital Literacy – HHS and health care stakeholders should provide funding and promote targeted outreach and education campaigns to help patients understand the types and benefits of virtual care tools and services that might be available to them and how they integrate with the rest of the health care delivery system. 
  • Quality and Program Integrity – HHS and health care stakeholders should work together to identify the key goals and desired outcomes, in order to modify current program oversight, quality and performance programs to ensure they can appropriately measure care delivered virtually. 
  • High-Quality, Equitable Care – More research is needed on how to effectively engage and communicate with patients through virtual care, in ways that improve patient experience and advance health equity. 
  • Privacy and Security – Congress should establish a data privacy structure that ensures health data is protected regardless of whether it is covered by HIPAA, aligning privacy and security rules where possible.

 

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