Fact Sheet: COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Transition Roadmap

02/14/23

On February 9, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a Fact Sheet providing a Public Health Emergency (PHE) Transition Roadmap.  DHHS Secretary Xavier Becerra confirmed that the PHE would end on May 11, 2023.  Below are a few items from the Fact Sheet.  Access this link to view the Fact Sheet in entirety:  https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/02/09/fact-sheet-covid-19-public-health-emergency-transition-roadmap.html

• Vaccines & certain treatment for COVID-19 “will generally not be affected”
• Based on an individual’s health care cover, there may be a change to the out-of-pocket expense for COVID-19 treatments.  However, “Medicaid programs will continue to cover COVID-19 treatments without cost sharing through September 30, 2024”, after which, each state will need to make coverage decisions.
• Telehealth flexibilities, in particular for rural areas, will be effective until December 2024
• Certain COVID-19 waivers affecting health care providers will end when the PHE ends on May 11, 2023
• Each state will have the ability to decide on which Medicaid waivers and flexibilities will continue
• Cost sharing for COVID-19 testing (Lab or Over-The-Counter (OTC)) may be affected at the end of the PHE, based on the type of insurance coverage:

• Data reported to the CDC (lab results and immunization data) will no longer be required once the PHE ends.  Hospital data reporting will be required through April 30, 2024, although the reporting frequency may be reduced.
• “The ability of health care providers to safely dispense controlled substances via telemedicine without an in-person interaction is affected; however, there will be rulemaking that will propose to extend these flexibilities. During the PHE, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and HHS adopted policies to allow DEA-registered practitioners to prescribe controlled substances to patients without an in-person interaction. These policies allowed for audio-only modalities to initiate buprenorphine prescribing. DEA is planning to initiate rulemaking that would extend these flexibilities under certain circumstances without any gap in care and will provide additional guidance to practitioners soon.”