The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced a proposal to eliminate telehealth copayments for veterans and establish a grant program to fund designated VA telehealth access points in non-VA facilities.

WHY IT MATTERS

This week the VA announced that it is proposing to amend a regulation – the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Healthcare Improvement Act of 2019 – to exempt all telehealth services from the law's copayment requirements. 

The law also grants the agency the authority to establish a telehealth grant program. 

The VA said in an announcement Monday that it is also proposing Accessing Telehealth through Local Area Stations. The program would focus on serving veterans in rural and medically underserved communities who may not have accessible healthcare facilities within their communities or reliable internet service.

ATLAS would provide funding to organizations, including nonprofits and private businesses, to offer veterans private space equipped with high-speed internet access and the technology to meet with VA providers remotely. 

The grants would also provide designated funding to train on-site personnel to support the program, according to the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. 

"VA has developed a telehealth program as a modern, veteran-, beneficiary- and family-centered healthcare delivery model that leverages information and telecommunication technologies," the agency said in its proposal.

Of note, the program is "irrespective of the state or location within a state where the healthcare professional or the patient is physically located at the time the healthcare is provided."

THE LARGER TREND

Also, in September, the agency announced that veterans nationwide who are unsure if they are having a health emergency can contact VA Health Connect and speak to a clinical triage nurse who can connect them to tele-emergency care when needed.

According to a story about the expanded program in the new federal health publication Impact, VA's tele-emergency care service helped more than 61,000 callers and resolved 59.4% of cases without veterans having to travel from their homes to an urgent care or emergency department.

"Veterans can get immediate, virtual triage with a VA medical provider who has direct access to their medical records," VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal said in the story.

"This avoids having to potentially drive to the nearest emergency department and wait to be evaluated, if appropriate."

Earlier this year, the VA also began waiving veterans’ copays for their first three outpatient mental healthcare visits of each year.

Telehealth has been an important point of access to care for veterans and the agency laid the groundwork for the pandemic-fueled telehealth spike, according to Dr. Neil Evans, chief officer for the Office of Connected Care in the Veterans Health Administration.

The VA Telehealth Emergency Management Team established in response to Hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017 launched the Anywhere to Anywhere VA Healthcare program. With the COVID-19 crisis, VA video-to-home telehealth encounters surged 3,147% from 294,847 encounters in fiscal 2019 to 9,575,958 in fiscal 2021.

By 2023, the agency partnered with the Veterans Health Administration's National Center for Collaborative Healthcare Innovation, the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System and Verizon Public Sector to implement network-as-a-service architecture at Palo Alto Healthcare System to address access to care for rural veterans. 

That system brought 4G or 5G cellular and LEO satellite connectivity to those living in broadband deserts.

ON THE RECORD

"Waiving copays for telehealth services and launching this grant program are both major steps forward in ensuring veterans can access healthcare where and when they need it," said VA Secretary Denis McDonough in a statement.

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.