Payment and Coverage Parity for Virtual Care and In-Person Care: How Do We Get There?

Background: A steep increase in the use of delivery of virtual care occurred during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) because of easing up of payment and coverage restrictions. With the end of PHE, there is uncertainty regarding continued coverage and payment parity for the virtual care services. Methods: On November 8, 2022, The Mass General Brigham held the Third Annual Virtual Care Symposium: Demystifying Clinical Appropriateness in Virtual Care and What's Ahead for Pay Parity. Results: In one of the panels, experts from Mayo Clinic led by Dr. Bart Demaerschalk discussed key issues related to "Payment and Coverage Parity for Virtual Care and In-Person Care: How Do We Get There?" The discussions centered around current policies around payment and coverage parity for virtual care, including state licensure laws for virtual care delivery and the current evidence base regarding outcomes, costs, and resource utilization associated with virtual care. The panel discussion ended with highlighting next steps targeting policymakers, payers, and industry groups to help strengthen the case for parity. Conclusions: To ensure the continued viability of virtual care delivery, legislators and insurers must address the coverage and payment parity between telehealth and in-person visits. This will require a renewed focus on research on clinical appropriateness, parity, equity and access, and economics of virtual care.

A Framework for Sustainable Contact Tracing and Exposure Investigation for Large Health Systems.

Contact tracing is a cornerstone of communicable disease containment and involves identifying, quarantining, and monitoring contacts of infected people. Although contact tracing is a known evidence-based strategy in the community setting, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the challenges to implementing labor-intensive contact tracing in the occupational setting of large health care systems and hospitals, the epicenter of the pandemic. We present a framework for feasible, scalable COVID-19 contact tracing in a large multistate health system in the United States employing approximately 69,000 health care personnel. The framework is shared with sufficient details to allow adoption or adaptation by other health systems. Continuous enhancement, optimization, and evaluation of the framework are ongoing.