During and after the COVID-19 public health emergency, expect vigilance by federal regulators.
Telemedicine services and telemedicine fraud schemes both surged during the global pandemic. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) remains committed to combating telemedicine fraud as not only a pre-pandemic focus area, but as part of its ongoing initiative to prosecute fraud in connection with COVID-19 and various pandemic relief programs.
During the public health emergency (PHE), Congress enacted telehealth waiver rules, relaxing Medicare coverage requirements and expanding the population eligible to receive telehealth services. Regulatory efforts to increase telehealth services also included the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s exercise of enforcement discretion over various telehealth devices. In addition, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and many states deliberately relaxed licensure requirements to encourage greater use of telehealth in the federal health care programs, which enabled doctors to render telehealth services across state lines with minimal delays. Telehealth flexibilities and e-prescribing waivers that enabled providers to care for patients during the pandemic greatly expanded access to care. CMS increased the types of services that beneficiaries could receive via telehealth from 118 to 264 services. Telehealth practitioners can include occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech pathologists, and audiologists. There is...
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