Telehealth laws inhibit widespread use in Medicare population, CMS says

Dive Brief:

• Restrictions on where Medicare patients can receive telehealth services are limiting use of the technology, CMS said in a report last week to Congress.
• Under the 21st Century Cures Act, CMS is required to report to Congress on Medicare beneficiaries’ telehealth use. In 2016, nearly 90,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries used slightly more than 275,000 telehealth services — just 0.25% of the 35 million FFS Medicare enrollees analyzed for the report.
• The lack of usage is due, in large part, to current Medicare law, which requires that patients be in an originating site when telehealth services are furnished. Such sites must be in a rural health professional shortage area or a county outside a metropolitan statistical...

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