Associations recommend telehealth to CMS

Two organizations have submitted comments about telehealth in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation's (CMMI) request for information (RFI) on potential innovations for health plans.

CMMI issued the RFI in October requesting information on products available to Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries including Medicaid managed care plans, Medigap and Retiree Supplemental health plans, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans and stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans.

Health IT Now urged CMS to create a model telehealth program comparable to one used by the Department of Veterans Affairs that would "create a continuum of care that is essential to patient care." The model could include clinical video equipment, home telehealth services and store-and-forward technologies, the group said. "The use of technology allows both providers and patients to remain engaged and informed about the condition or conditions being treated. It also allows for multiple providers to exchange data about a patient's condition and course of treatment."

The Telecommunications Industry Association suggested CMS use remote patient monitoring for patients with conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes. "CMMI programs should set objectives, but avoid dictating how those objectives are met," the group wrote, also suggesting platform neutrality and technology neutrality priorities. "Whether technologies that utilize or offer real-time interactive audio or video telecommunications, asynchronous store-and-forward technologies or remote monitoring services, the focus should be on the patient objectives and outcomes as opposed to the modality."