Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2018 - 16

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FEATURE

Department of Veterans Affairs
Expands Telehealth
By: Mark Austerberry, PCMS Executive Director

Good news that will make it easier for veterans to receive health care this summer. The
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) cleared the way for VA doctors, nurses and other
health-care providers to administer care to veterans using telehealth, or virtual technology,
regardless of where in the United States the provider or veteran is located. The service will be
available even when care occurs across state lines or outside a VA facility.
Previously, it was unclear whether VA
providers could furnish care to veterans
in other states through telehealth because
of licensing restrictions or state-specific
telehealth laws. This new rule exercises
federal preemption to override those
state restrictions, paving the way for
VA to expand care to veterans through
telehealth. VA worked closely with the
White House Office of American Innovation and the Department of Justice to
implement the new rule.
"This new rule is critical to VA's "Anywhere to Anywhere" initiative," said
VA Acting Secretary Robert Wilkie.
"Now that the rule has been finalized, VA
providers and patients can start enjoying the full benefits of VA's
telehealth services."
Some telehealth already has been occurring. Nationwide, about
700,000 veterans - 45,000 of them in rural communities - saw
a VA physician online in 2016. That care did not run afoul of state
licensing laws because those laws did not apply if both the physician
and the patient were in a federal facility.

16 Philadelphia Medicine : Summer 2018

But for VA to use this technology to
treat veterans in their homes, a federal
preemption rule was necessary to allow
for virtual care by physicians who aren't
licensed in the patient's state. Some VA
health care professionals had refused to
practice telehealth because of concerns
about a state licensing agency taking
action against them. The rule should
especially help the delivery of mental
health care. The agency struggles to
maintain adequate mental health professional staffing, so this will allow veterans
in understaffed regions to receive care
from elsewhere. That need was stressed
in documents filed by VA to support its
rule when it was proposed last year.
VA states that "some mental health patients suffer from conditions
such as anxiety and agoraphobia, which make it incredibly difficult to
leave their houses to receive necessary mental and general health care.
"Even if beneficiaries feel comfortable leaving their home to seek
care, there may not be sufficient mental health care providers at a

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Philadelphia Medicine Summer 2018