Expanding Telehealth Access for Substance Use Disorder Treatment
This bill aims to make substance use disorder treatment more accessible through telehealth, especially for Medicare beneficiaries. This means patients can start treatment sooner, often without an initial in-person visit, potentially improving their recovery outcomes. It also establishes a task force to monitor the effectiveness and safety of these changes.
Key points
Removes the requirement for an initial in-person medical evaluation before receiving substance use disorder telehealth services via audio or telephone for Medicare patients.
Allows for the prescription of certain controlled substances (e.g., partial opioid agonists) after a telehealth evaluation, with a follow-up video visit required within 10 days for audio-only prescriptions.
Establishes an interagency task force to collect data on telehealth utilization, overdose rates, and treatment costs to assess the impact of these changes.
Expired
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