The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released an updated State Medicaid & CHIP Telehealth Toolkit: Policy Considerations for States Expanding Use of Telehealth, Supplement #1 that confirmed that states may continue to cover audio-only telehealth visits for Medicaid enrollees after the end of the federal public health emergency (PHE) and continue to receive federal financial participation at the state's matching rate.
An article published in Pew Stateline recently highlighted how audio-only improved care and saved money at health centers. In a recent NACHC press release William Crumpton, Chief Executive Officer of Compassion Health Care, Inc., located in rural Caswell County, NC, described the importance of audio-only for his patient population:
"For our patients, audio-only telehealth capabilities have been an important lifeline and often the only mechanism for our center to connect with our largely rural and elderly patients, many of whom still have rotary phones in their homes, don't drive a car, do not have smartphone technology. We can't leave these patients behind and take away a tool that they have come to rely on to talk to their provider."
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