President Biden Signs the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 Impacting Telehealth and Health System Stakeholders

On March 15, 2022 President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 into law. The announcement can be viewed here. This $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations bill is important as there are several provisions applicable to hospitals and health systems contained within; namely touching on issues such as 340B eligibility and telehealth. 

Specifically regarding 340B the bill allows for limited protections for certain 340B hospitals that lost their eligibility due to a drop in their disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) adjustment percentage below the required threshold for 340B eligibility to gain limited access to the program. Access to the 340B drug discounts would be available only from the date of the bill’s enactment through the end of 2022 and not retrospectively.

For telehealth stakeholders, the new law would extend several telehealth flexibilities for 151 days after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Additionally, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) shall “conduct a study on the expansions of telehealth services” and report their findings to Congress no later than June 2023.

Stakeholders in these groups have a lot of uncertainty in their specific industries. 

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