“Some members of Congress are taking the nation’s military healthcare system to task for not making the most of telehealth during the Coronavirus pandemic.”
“Last week, US Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Martha McSally (R-AK) sent a letter urging the Defense Department to expand telehealth coverage under TRICARE, the military health system’s healthcare program, overseen by the Defense Health Agency. A few days later, US Senators Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) introduced a bill aimed at expanding the ranks of care providers licensed by the Department of Veterans Affairs to use telehealth.”
“Both actions point to the hardships caused by the ongoing COVID-19 emergency, which has forced many people to stay at home and reduced access to in-person care.”
“In their May 4 letter to Thomas McCaffery, the Defense Health Agency’s Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Shaheen and McSally noted that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and many private payers had expanded telehealth coverage for care, particularly for telemental health services.”
“’Unfortunately, we have heard concerns that TRICARE has not made the same level of commitment to telehealth flexibilities for mental health services, as compared to the Medicare program and private insurers,’ they wrote. ‘This could force military members and their families battling mental illness to risk their own physical health and potential COVID-19 infection in order to access the mental health treatment they need.’”
“Loeffler and Sinema, meanwhile, have filed a bill aimed at allowing post-graduate healthcare employees and VA healthcare trainees to use connected health platforms, under the supervision of VA-sanctioned care providers, to treat veterans…” Read the full article here.
Source: Senators Ask Defense Health Agency, VA to Expand Telehealth Access – By Eric Wicklund, May 11, 2020. mHealthIntelligence.
