Areas of Expertise
- Congressional affairs
- Connected health policy
- Healthcare transformation
Recent Press coverage
- Promoting vaccine equity for all, a Q1 US policy update
- HIMSS outlines political health it priorities and progress
- The US needs a patient identification strategy yesterday
Social Media
Areas of Interest
- U.S. government and policy
- The intersection of politics and policy in health
- Telehealth, remote monitoring and digital health from a patient safety and health outcomes perspective
- Cost reduction, cost savings
- Policies that govern Medicare, HSS regulations and how telehealth can be applied
Point of View
I navigate the policy and politics of D.C. as it plays out on Capitol Hill. I look at how policy, healthcare and technology intersect holistically to serve patients. Technology, when used correctly, makes people’s lives easier. Connected health is working to make people healthier, to increase their access to care, to give patients the information, knowledge and tools to make better decisions.
We’ve been hoping each year since 2015 that we would see “the year of telehealth,” a period when the barriers built to prevent telehealth from being abused or overused would change to allow technology to help keep people healthier. Since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, everything we thought we knew about how telehealth was being used has completely shifted. The rules that governed health technology before the pandemic don’t really apply anymore.
There’s still concern around the potential for fraud, abuse and overutilization, but telehealth has been embraced. Professionals, systems and the healthcare community at large have invested time and resources in technology, training and education for healthcare workers. There’s no going back.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has embraced a number of changes in its annual fee schedules. In Congress, the restrictions require congressional action to undo. There still is a disagreement about whether to make changes all at once or to disassemble the barriers brick by brick. But we have reached a tipping point, and I don’t think anyone can predict what unraveling of the barriers will look like.
