HHS submitted a report prepared by the Office of Health Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) http://aspe.hhs.gov as requested by Congress. The report provides an update on their current e-health and telemedicine efforts and addresses Congressional interest in federal telehealth policy and coordination.
Some of the HHS 2015 telehealth activities included:
- HRSA www.hrsa.gov administers $10 million in telehealth network grants along with $4.5 million for a national network of telehealth resource centers, $900,000 for veterans telehealth, $750,000 for telehealth research, and $500,000 in grants addressing cross-state licensure challenges
- SAMHSA www.samhsa.gov invested $3.6 million in grants to support behavioral telehealth and care coordination. The agency also funded about $150,000 to develop a guide on behavioral telehealth financing strategies
- CDC www.cdc.gov provided an estimated $2 million for the ePathology and Advanced Diagnostics program to link pathologists to public health providers and facilitate real time consultation regarding infectious disease
- The CMS Innovation Center’s https://innovation.cms.gov Health Care Innovation Awards includes 22 projects focusing on telehealth plus the State Innovation Models initiative
- NIH www.nih.gov supports more than 350 extramural and intramural research projects that develop, evaluate, or utilize a telehealth modality
The HHS Office of the National Coordinator www.healthit.gov is in the process of developing a first-of-its-kind inventory on federal telehealth activities. A questionnaire was distributed to federal agency participants in June 2016 to help in federal planning and coordination related to telehealth.
AHRQ www.ahrq.gov recently has reviewed literature to assess the existing evidence on the benefits and costs associated with telehealth resulting in the “Evidence Map” published June 30, 2016. The report notes that about one quarter of telehealth encounters use video links, one quarter involve asynchronous communications, and less than 5 percent involve the use of mobile phones.
Also, fewer than one in four telehealth services appear to be digitally transmitting images or diagnostic output such as EKGs, EEGs, and MRIs, when they are sent to providers for consultation purposes.
Go to http://aspe.hhs.gov then click on publications to view the “Report to Congress on E-health and Telemedicine” submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services.