Providers: Continue Audio Telehealth Payments After Health Emergency

Providers say CMS should continue to reimburse audio-only telehealth services after the public health emergency ends in order to ease health care inequities, but some policymakers and patient advocates still raise questions about the quality of care and potential for fraud with audio-only visits. They say guardrails like pre-established physician relationships with patients and attention to privacy rules should be in place if audio-only telehealth reimbursement becomes permanent. “Policymakers really have a challenge ahead of them,” said Lori Uscher-Pines, a...