This Week’s ATA Brief: Ambient AI, Centralized RPM Models, Day 16 of Shutdown, and more

For leaders making digital integral to how care is accessed, delivered, and scaled.

Avel eCare

Hospitals Can’t Afford to Wait — A New Model of Care is Here

Hospitals today are under intense strain from provider shortages and financial pressures, with many closing units or reducing hours, which threatens access to essential care in both rural and urban communities. This article argues that patch-work fixes won’t suffice; instead, health systems must adopt integrated, tech-enabled models (beyond basic telemedicine) that support care from admission through discharge. Read More »

Northwell

Northwell To Expand Ambient AI to 28 Hospitals

SUMMIT SESSION

Centralized RPM Models: Design Decisions That Shape Success 

Two leading health systems take the mic at the ATA Insights Summit 2025 to unpack their approaches to remote patient monitoring (RPM) and what it takes to scale effectively.

• Shannon McAllister, WVU Medicine – shares how a centralized nurse triage model with decentralized provider escalation integrates with Epic and third-party vendors.
• Laura Christopherson, Mayo Clinic – details Mayo’s command center model, including staffing ratios, cross-specialty monitoring, and algorithm development for population health.

Together, they’ll outline the decision points that define RPM success, helping you design or refine programs that balance standardization, specialty needs, and scalability.

Complimentary Hotel Deadline: October 24, 2025

 Apply to Attend »

FEDERAL POLICY UPDATES

Day 16: The Telehealth Shutdown

Now in the second week of the government shutdown, Congressional Democrats and Republicans are still not close to reaching agreement on a Continuing Resolution (CR) to restore government funding. The Senate voted on the Republican CR for the tenth time late last week and no progress was made.

The Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home program remain shuttered and as anticipated, we are anticipating that commercial insurers will start pulling back on telehealth reimbursement as a direct result of the lack of telehealth coverage for the Medicare population. This untenable situation is forcing many healthcare providers to make the difficult choice between suspending services or continuing virtual care in hopes of eventual reimbursement.

ATA Action is urging Congress and the Administration to work together to enact a solution to quickly restore these bipartisan telehealth flexibilities during the shutdown. We are also calling on policymakers in Washington to pass a retroactive telehealth reimbursement provision, ensuring that providers and hospital systems are compensated for telehealth services delivered during this period.

In our most recent press release, Sara Collins, Assistant Vice President, Professional Medical Affairs and Telehealth for Lifepoint Health, and a member of the ATA Policy Council, noted: “The expiration of Medicare telehealth flexibilities has an immediate and deeply concerning impact on patients and providers across the communities we serve. Lifepoint hospitals and clinics operate in rural and underserved regions which depend on telehealth to connect patients with specialists, behavioral health providers, and hospital-level care that would otherwise be out of reach.”

Read the full press release here

Make Your Voice Heard!

Our grassroots advocacy tool, which makes it easy to reach out to your Members of Congress urging them to extend the telehealth flexibilities, remains active. Feel free to share far and wide!

CMS Agrees to Continue Holding Telehealth Claims

Yesterday, in anticipation of possible Congressional action, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed all Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to continue to temporarily hold claims with dates of service of October 1, 2025, and later for services impacted by the expired Medicare legislative payment provisions passed under the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025. This includes all claims paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), ground ambulance transport claims, and all Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) claims. Providers may continue to submit these claims, but payment will not be released until the hold is lifted. Read more from CMS here: All Fee-For-Service Providers | CMS

Advancing Digital Health Coalition Engaging with FDA

The Advancing Digital Health Coalition continues to actively engage in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) digital health policy discussions. This week, the coalition submitted comments to the public docket on the FDA’s draft guidance for Prescription Drug Use-Related Software (PDURS), emphasizing the need for clear, risk-based regulatory pathways that promote innovation while ensuring patient safety.

Our Advancing Digital Health Coalition is also preparing for FDA’s upcoming Digital Health Advisory Committee (DHAC) meeting, developing both a written comment and a recorded presentation that highlight opportunities to strengthen transparency, evidence standards, and regulatory alignment. While we prepare for Generative AI in mental health, we are also preparing for the sea change in healthcare that Generative AI will enable across virtual and asynchronous care, from chronic disease management to medication side effect monitoring and behavioral health support. This ongoing work reflects the coalition’s commitment to advancing policies that enable safe, effective, and patient-centered digital health innovation.

State Policy Updates

Ohio Bill Under Consideration Requiring an In-Person Exam Before Prescribing Certain Drugs

Last week, the Ohio Health Committee considered HB 324 which requires an in-person examination before allowing a healthcare provider to prescribe drugs that cause severe adverse effects in more than 5% of users. The bill would designate the Director of Health as being responsible for determining which drugs fall into this category. ATA Action is joining a large group of voices in opposition to this bill, which remains in the Health Committee.