Medicare telehealth coverage expiring, impact on Arizona patients

The COVID-era flexibility that allowed Medicare to pay for certain telehealth services expires at the end of this year.

Will Humble, Executive Director of the Arizona Public Health Association’s Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), joined “Arizona Horizon” with host and managing editor Ted Simons.

“Before the pandemic, really most payers-insurance companies-were reluctant to reimburse for any kind of telehealth,” Humble said. “But when it became a necessity, I think they all saw this really has a high return on investment in terms of patient satisfaction and also being able to manage patients more easily and removing some of those barriers like transportation, providing better access to rural parts of the state and etc.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, Humble was already skeptical of telehealth. Humble said Tom Betlach, who served as the director of AHCCCS, was convinced it would lead to unchecked fraud and abuse, so he wouldn’t let it happen.

“It’s not appropriate for everything and sometimes you need to come in,” Humble said. “But, it really helps make it easier for that patient, and maybe not take a day off of work, avoid all the extra transportation.”

Then COVID came along, and telehealth was implemented out of necessity. Now, AHCCCS sees the value, especially in rural areas, Humble said.

“It really helps, especially in rural areas,” Humble said. “…there’s a lack of psychiatrists and other practitioners in the rural parts of the state that make it so that it’s nearly impossible in some places to get an appointment that you really need.”