The expansion of telehealth during the pandemic has highlighted some challenges, such as reimbursement rates and integration with electronic medical records. Although these issues need to be discussed and resolved, it is likely that telehealth use will never return to pre-COVID-19 levels.
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“Telehealth may help us with our workforce issues,” Dr. Moynihan says, adding that this is another topic of interest for advocacy efforts. The decreasing number of practicing rheumatologists is becoming a growing concern, especially as the number of patients increases. Not only are U.S. physicians retiring in greater numbers, but foreign physicians have a harder time obtaining visas to train or practice in the U.S. as a result of revised U.S. immigration policies.
“Those [workforce issues] have been discussed at the House of Delegates,” Dr. Bryant says.
All topics brought to the AMA HOD reflect current ACR advocacy priorities as approved by the board of directors and build on the efforts of the various committees, such as the CORC, the Government Affairs Committee and the Committee on Education. The ACR delegation’s recent efforts have successfully advanced key rheumatology issues, including PBM transparency, step therapy and prior authorization, which have become part of AMA policy and its advocacy agenda.
Kimberly Retzlaff is a freelance medical journalist based in Denver.