AHA weighs in on Senate Finance workgroup chronic care draft legislation

AHA today commended the Senate Finance Committee Chronic Care Working Group on the release of its recent draft legislation to address the needs of Medicare beneficiaries and recommended further refinements. “We appreciate the deliberate and thoughtful process undertaken by the CCWG to solicit feedback from stakeholders, and are pleased to see many of our priorities for improving care for those with chronic conditions reflected in the discussion draft,” wrote AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels. Specifically, AHA applauded the workgroup for proposing some expansions to the Medicare telehealth benefit. AHA urged the workgroup to include more comprehensive changes in its next draft – such as eliminating the geographic location and practice setting originating site requirements and removing restrictions on covered services and technologies (including store-and-forward technology and remote patient monitoring), “which are necessary to realize fully the promise of telehealth.” AHA also urged the workgroup to address behavioral health needs in its next draft. “We support the integration of physical and behavioral health and urge the CCWG to continue to consider policy solutions to address this important area,” AHA wrote. “Research studies have identified a strong association between mental health disorders, such as severe depression, and serious chronic physical diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Untreated mental health disorders can impair a patient’s ability to seek or fully participate in recommended treatment for chronic diseases, impeding recovery and worsening outcomes.”