Carrie Nixon in mHealth Intelligence Discussing the Recent Telehealth Changes
Nixon Law Group’s Managing Partner, Carrie Nixon, was quoted in an article appearing in mHealth Intelligence discussing the recent changes to Telehealth with the proposed CMS rules (learn about our take here and here) and the executive order to expand rural healthcare.
Carrie Nixon, of the Nixon Law Group, said the order calls for “a strategy to improve rural health by improving the communications infrastructure in rural America,” though she notes such a strategy would have to be funded.
“While Trump’s Executive Order is a good show of support for rural Americans, it lacks any real teeth when it comes to expanding telehealth,” she said. “An Executive Order can instruct an agency on the type of action the President would like it to take, but it can’t change existing law.”
“The Order directs the Secretary of Health & Human Services to extend the flexibilities around telehealth implemented during the COVID beyond the declared Public Health Emergency, but the fact is that Congress has to take action to pass a law removing the barriers to reimbursement for Medicare telehealth visits,” Nixon concluded. “Without legislative action, the vast majority of Medicare patients won’t have access to telehealth when the PHE (public health emergency) is over.”