Credit Suisse recently hosted Ann Mond Johnson, CEO, and Kyle Zebley, Director of Public Policy at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) https://www.americantelemed.org, for a virtual meeting with a small group of investors. ATA includes 400 organizations focused on transforming healthcare.
The discussion started with ATA’s near term and medium term goals. ATA hosted a series of campaigns in 2020, and more recently in 2021, to ensure that the telehealth waivers put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic are made permanent. Additionally, ATA has become more engaged in conversations around what hybrid models of care will look like, given that telehealth is not for everyone in every situation.
ATA’s medium term goals include federal and state advocacy for modality agnosticism, where policy makers leave decisions on communication modality to licensed medical professionals to determine how to use various tools/technologies that have become available. To this point, the speakers referred to RPM as “one of the unsung heroes” of the pandemic due to the critical role of providing patients with required ongoing care remotely.
The speakers indicated that it is unlikely there will be certainty in terms of permanent components for telehealth in the Medicare program any time before late 2021. While most members of Congress regardless of the political party, publicity state that they are in favor of telehealth, however, the key question is finding the right approach and process.
The speakers also noted there is only a very small percentage of CIOs, CTOs, and digital transformation executives at health systems who are not investing in telehealth despite the lack of reimbursement clarity.
The speakers stated that the industry should move towards a value-based payment model that has a fair payment system set up for telehealth. The system needs to be one that recognizes that while telehealth doesn’t have the brick-and-mortar infrastructure involved, a lot of investment is required to get the program off the ground.
The speakers report since there are costs associated with telehealth and while most institutions and insurance payers are supportive of telehealth, these costs still have to be managed. As a result, the speakers note that private insurers need to determine (as opposed to government) for the best way to offer telehealth coverage for their members and how to deal with the potential for overutilization risk due to copay waivers.
Going forward, Ms. Johnson expects virtual visits to represent around 20-30% of total visits in a couple of years depending on the specialty. Mental Health could see the majority of patients using virtual platforms, as there is almost universal acceptance that almost every kind of treatment can be provided virtually for mental health.
ATA has announced the launch of Telehealth Awareness Week which will occur the week of September 19th. The purpose is to convey that telehealth is health, not a separate component. ATA plans to use the platform to ensure that people know how telehealth can be used appropriately, where it works, and why it works well.
If you have questions, or want to provide feedback, or news, email Jailendra Singh at jailendra.singh@credit-suisse.com or call 212-325-8121.