A House Ways & Means health subcommittee on Wednesday unanimously approved a new bill that would extend the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver by five years and pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities by two years.
The subcommittee’s bipartisan group of lawmakers voted 41 to 0 in favor of the “Preserving Telehealth, Hospital and Ambulance Act,” which was introduced on Tuesday. Representatives called out the need to extend the hospital-at-home waiver, which is set to expire at the end of 2024.
“Without this bill, beneficiaries will no longer be able to talk to their doctors or receive acute hospital care from the comfort of their home starting at the end of this year,” Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) said during the hearing. “Only a few short years ago, these possibilities seemed unthinkable, but are now revolutionizing care for seniors on Medicare and those living in rural areas.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created the Acute Hospital Care At Home Waiver in November 2020 to free up hospital bed supply during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the years since, the hospital-at-home program has expanded. More than 300 hospitals across 129 health systems in 37 states are operating under the waiver. In March, more than 50 hospitals and home care firms sent a letter to House lawmakers asking them to extend the program.
Policymakers on Wednesday also approved of the bill’s support of telehealth flexibilities instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic. These flexibilities allow any Medicare-certified healthcare provider to furnish telehealth services to patients, even across state lines. The pandemic-era allowances are also set to expire at the end of the year, and likewise, stakeholders have called on policymakers to pass an extension.
Some lawmakers even expressed interest in making telehealth a permanent fixture in Medicare-covered services.
“The legislation before us will extend telehealth flexibilities for seniors on Medicare for two years,” Rep. Mike Thompson (R-CA), a co-sponsor of the bill, said. “I’m of the view that telehealth ought to be a permanent part of Medicare, but recognize the merit to additional study, consideration of telehealth utilization and, specifically, guardrails.”
Home care providers lauded the bill as an important step to helping seniors age in place.
“This legislation is a realistic response to both providers’ and consumers’ needs,” Katie Smith Sloan, president and chief executive officer of LeadingAge, said in a statement Wednesday. “Telehealth is the new normal approach for delivering so much of care today … This bill, if enacted, would bring efficiency and greater access for older adults in need of care and supports.”
Though it was approved unanimously, some committee members made note of specific concerns about the bill. Some committee members said that the bill would do too little to address healthcare fraud, specifically within telehealth and hospice. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) said the bill’s anti-fraud provisions do “nothing more than would be accomplished by a strong letter.”
He later added, “Because I’ve long recognized the value of telehealth, I will not oppose this bill. But I do oppose its failure to address waste, fraud and abuse.”
