Cuomo Unveils Sweeping Plan to Expand Telehealth Throughout New York State

Cuomo said he will address bottlenecks to telehealth adoption, including raising reimbursements for virtual care.

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo this week unveiled a sweeping plan to expand access and accelerate adoption to telehealth services across the Empire State.

The Democratic governor, in his 2021 State of the State agenda, noted that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed healthcare access inequities and demonstrated the value of telehealth. 

"While New York State has been on the cutting edge of promoting telehealth for its residents, the adoption of telehealth by both patients and providers has been slow," Cuomo said in a media release.

"COVID-19 has changed not only the way we live, but the way healthcare providers support their patients, especially in regard to mental health," he said. "New Yorkers have adapted throughout 2020, but it is time to push telehealth to the next level in New York State and fully integrate it into our existing healthcare system."

Working with the Reimagine New York Commission, Cuomo said he will address bottlenecks to telehealth adoption, including raising reimbursements for virtual care, eliminating bewhiskered regulatory prohibitions, and building training programs to alleviate newbie patients' and providers' technical angst.

Specifically, Cuomo's initiative would:

•  Eliminate obsolete location requirements by requiring Medicaid to offer telehealth reimbursement for services rendered to patients regardless of where the patient or provider is located in a non-facility setting;
   
• Develop interstate licensing reciprocity with other Northeast states for high-demand specialties to ensure sufficient access to medical and behavioral health;
   
• Continue COVID-era flexibilities that allow unlicensed staff to deliver mental health and substance use services.
   
• Eliminate in-person evaluation requirements before telehealth services can be delivered, expand staff who can deliver remote services, develop a regulatory structure for a predominantly virtual outpatient substance use disorder treatment program, and explore the expansion of behavioral health services into nursing facilities.

• Require commercial payers to offer telehealth to members, and provide Medicaid coverage for services furnished telephonically when medically appropriate.
   
• Ensure that telehealth is reimbursed at rates that incentivize use when medically appropriate.
   
• Require providers to disclose to patients whether they provide telehealth services.
   
• Require insurers in their provider directories to list which providers offer telehealth services.

• Require insurers to offer members an e-triage or virtual ED platform that lets patients receive an assessment and a referral to providers or a nearby ED when needed.
   
• Facilitate the use of expert consultations between providers via telehealth by encouraging insurers to reimburse providers directly for e-consults. .

Cornell University President Martha Pollack, co-chair of the Reimagine New York Commission Telehealth Working Group, said expanding telehealth services broadly to the general public "starts with comprehensive policy changes that give providers and patient's greater flexibility to use telehealth as they deem appropriate."

"We can and must ensure that those New Yorkers who are most in need have greater access to care, through new investments in telehealth infrastructure, and through the creative integration of telehealth technologies with the kinds of human support that cannot be replaced," she said.