Cardiologists urge CMS to permanently allow virtual supervision for rehab services
A coalition of healthcare organizations is urging CMS to rethink its proposal to stop allowing virtual supervision during pulmonary, cardiac and intensive cardiac rehabilitation services when the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) expires.
Six cardiovascular and pulmonary societies, including the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association, expressed their concerns in a letter addressed to Ryan Howe, MD, acting director of the CMS hospital and ambulatory policy group.
When direct supervision requirements were first allowed to be met virtually, the improved flexibility led to improvements in patient access and allowed more healthcare providers to deliver high-quality care. By only allowing those requirements to be met virtually for a limited amount of time, the coalition noted, there could be a negative impact on patient access. Progress that had been made during the PHE, they wrote, could very well be lost.
The letter also details the high rates of success seen in both pulmonary and cardiac rehabilitation. The organizations suggested that Howe and his colleagues will see the benefits of virtual supervision themselves if they explore the latest data.
“CMS states it intends to monitor the use of interactive audio/video real-time communications technology to meet the direct supervision requirement through the PHE,” the groups wrote. “The professional societies believe it will be evident that the quality and safety of pulmonary, cardiac, and intensive cardiac rehabilitation services are not negatively affected and, in fact, access to these services is improved with a virtual option for direct supervision.”
The letter is available as a PDF on the ACC website.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.