In 2025, telehealth mental health services are going to be limited significantly due to Medicare’s new rules, which will require in, person visits from October 1. To qualify for a telehealth service, a patient must have seen the doctor face, to, face within the last six months, and then once a year afterward. This means that the accessibility of mental health care via telehealth has been drastically restricted.
Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics can still have a little more flexibility until 2025, but the new regulations are a challenge for the telehealth mental health model that has rapidly grown during the pandemic. If members of a group practice are in the same subspecialty, then the colleagues can provide the in, person service that is required.
Advocates argue that the imposition of restrictions on telemedicine mental health will cause rural patients, elderly people, and those with mobility problems who have used the convenience of virtual care to be affected the most. Some providers have also mentioned that patients are anxious about the loss of telehealth mental health services with which they have developed relationships over years.
The policy is intended to ensure quality oversight, but it has raised concerns about equity in access to telehealth mental health. Specialists suggest that reforms be made to keep the benefits of virtual care while also upholding the standards so that telehealth mental health can still be an option for millions.
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