On Thursday, May 23, APA Services, in collaboration with the American Psychiatric Association, the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, held a briefing on Capitol Hill to educate members of Congress and their staff about the importance of continued access to mental and behavioral health services via telehealth.
The briefing featured a panel of practitioners and experts, including Ohio Psychological Association’s Director of Professional Affairs Jim Broyles, PhD. Broyles, along with his fellow panelists, spoke about the clinical benefits of telehealth for patients and highlighted the importance of protecting current Medicare telehealth coverage flexibilities, which are set to expire at the end of this year. The panel called on Congress to take up and pass the Telemental Health Care Access Act (H.R. 3432opens in new window), which would repeal the Medicare in-person visit requirement and make permanent certain Medicare coverage flexibilities for tele-behavioral health services.
Multiple congressional committees have held hearings about continued access to telehealth services, although it remains unclear as of this writing how Congress will address telehealth access by year’s end. If Congress does not protect telehealth access, millions of patients will potentially lose access to necessary mental and behavioral health services.
For more information, contact Andrew Strickland.