By Kim Stanger

After three years, the federal public health emergency (PHE) will expire May 11, 2023.¹ Most of the relaxed regulatory and payor standards will end on or within a few months after the deadline, including many relating to:

• Federal subsidies for PHE-related services.
• Medicare coverage and/or the amount of reimbursement for certain services, especially COVID-related care and telehealth services.
• Medicaid coverage for COVID-related services.
• Flexibility on standards relating to patient stays (e.g., use of skilled nursing facility (SNF) beds for patients who do not meet SNF criteria; critical access hospital (CAH) 25-bed and/or 96-hour length of stay requirements; etc.).
• Facility safety, staffing, and operational standards.
• Use of alternative or expansion sites to provide care (e.g., Hospitals Without Walls Programs; use of other sites to render hospital services; etc.).
• Practitioner supervision requirements.
• Charges and cost-sharing amounts for certain services, including COVID testing.
• Prescribing controlled substances through telehealth services as otherwise governed by the Ryan Haight Act.
• Use of non-HIPAA compliant modalities to conduct telehealth visits.
• Stark, Anti-Kickback Statute, and Civil Monetary Penalties waivers concerning arrangements with physicians, patients, and other referral sources.
• EMTALA guidelines concerning directing patients to other locations.
• PREP Act liability protections.²

Read more