This Week’s ATA Brief: Cutting Through the IT Noise; Designing Smart Clinics; Inpatient Experience Roundtable

For Leaders Driving Digital Transformation Across Every Dimension of Care.

Medical University of South Carolina

‘So Much Noise in Health It’: How Musc Cuts Through It

Charleston, S.C.-based MUSC Health is cutting through the “noise” in health IT by mastering the fundamentals and targeting the real problems technology needs to solve, the health system’s new CIO told Becker’s.  Read More »

Moffitt Cancer Center

CancerX Taps Moffitt Cancer Center, Advocate Health To Lead New Consortium Model

Moffitt Cancer Center and Advocate Health have been named founding anchor members of CancerX’s new consortium leadership model, marking a shift in how the national public-private partnership will drive digital innovation in cancer care. Read More »

Complimentary Hotel Deadline: TODAY! October 23, 2025

INPATIENT EXPERIENCE ROUNDTABLE

Defining What Success Looks Like in Virtual Care

How do you measure what truly matters—patient and provider experience, operational impact, and long-term sustainability?

At the ATA Insights Summit (Nov. 16–18, Orlando, FL), join the Experience Measurement & KPI Strategy Strategic Roundtable, a collaborative working session led by Susan Berry of Sanford Health, Mae Centeno of Texas Health Resources, and Kate Johnson of OSF OnCall Digital Health.

Together, participants will:
 Create frameworks for measuring patient and provider satisfaction
 Identify meaningful KPIs across specialties
 Link experience outcomes to business and clinical performance

You’ll walk away with KPI selection guides, experience measurement frameworks, and specialty-specific metric libraries, practical tools to strengthen your organization’s digital care strategy.

 Apply to Attend »

Complimentary Hotel Deadline: TODAY! October 23, 2025

FEDERAL POLICY UPDATES

Day 23: The Telehealth Shutdown 
Three weeks into the government shutdown and there’s still no resolution as House Republican leaders remain opposed to extending the enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits while Senate Democrats are loath to move forward with a House-passed funding bill — the key issue at the heart of the standoff. In the Senate, lawmakers failed for the eleventh time on Monday to resolve the impasse, marking the third-longest shutdown in modern history. 

The Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home program remain shuttered, prompting growing concern across the healthcare landscape. In the absence of federal coverage for the Medicare population, an increasing number of health systems and providers are scaling back telehealth services. This untenable environment is forcing providers into a difficult choice, either suspend virtual care altogether or continue offering it with no guarantee of reimbursement.

ATA Action continues to urge 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. 

ABC News: How One Family Has Been Impacted by the Telehealth Shutdown

On Monday, ABC News aired a powerful interview with Medicare patient Vicki Stearn. Vicki passionately explained what it meant for her, her husband and her 90-year-old mother to have to either pay out-of-pocket or wait months for needed care they had been receiving through virtual visits prior to the shutdown. Watch Vicki’s story 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!

Please Take the ATA Member Survey: Impact of Government Shutdown on Telehealth

Members of Congress and key committees of jurisdiction are seeking concrete data and real-world examples of how the ongoing federal government shutdown and the lapse in the Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home Program is affecting providers and patients.

ATA Action has developed a brief (5-10 minute) survey to better understand the operational, logistical, and administrative steps your organizations are taking during this challenging period. Your input will directly support ATA Action's advocacy and policy efforts. While individual responses will remain confidential, ATA Action may share aggregated findings to help inform congressional messaging, reinforce the need for immediate action, and advocate for a long-term, stable telehealth policy solution.

Here is a link to the survey. Thank you for taking a few minutes to share your experience.

CMS Accepting Behavioral Telehealth Claims During Shutdown
On Tuesday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) issued guidance reminding providers the agency will continue to accept telehealth behavioral health claims following the October 1 expiration of other Medicare telehealth flexibilities. This follows an updated FAQ posted last week noting it would waive current six-month in-person requirements for behavioral health treatment, instead requiring a one-year in-person visit. The revised document further clarified that Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs) could continue to bill non-behavioral health visits through Dec. 31.

Action Items: Two Sign on Letters to Congress on Long-term Telehealth Extension & Remote Monitoring Legislation

Urge Congress to Enact Long-Term Telehealth Extension 
Please join us, sign on to this letter urging Congressional leaders to immediately act on a long-term telehealth fix in its next legislative package to ensure stability and provide clarity for patients, providers and the health care system as a whole. 

Congress has extended telehealth flexibilities multiple times immediately prior to the looming deadlines. Unfortunately, failure to do so this year has led to an abrupt end to telehealth services for millions of Medicare beneficiaries. This cycle of temporary fixes has resulted in patients and providers facing continued disruptions in care.

Given the time-sensitive nature of this request, please sign-on no later than COB Tuesday, October 28. 

This letter is co-led by the Alliance for Connected Care, American Telemedicine Association, ATA Action, the Connected Health Initiative, the Consumer Technology Association, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the Health Innovation Alliance, and the Partnership to Advance Virtual Care.

Support the Remote Patient Monitoring Access Act
The Rural Patient Monitoring (RPM) Access Act (S. 1535/H.R. 3108) would ensure Medicare patients in rural and underserved communities have access to remote physiologic monitoring services, which lower costs and improve access to care by using technology to collect and transmit patient health data to healthcare providers. If interested in supporting this legislation, please sign the letter to Congress requesting additional cosponsors. A one-pager can be found here.

Advancing Digital Health Coalition Policy Priorities and Achievements to Date
Our Advancing Digital Health Coalition members help shape advocacy strategies and inform policy positions on key topics, including Digital Therapeutics, Prescription Drug Use Related Software (PDURS), Remote Monitoring Devices, Devices that Incorporate AI, and other digital health tools. Interested in joining the coalition? 

Read the coalition’s analysis of real-world data and learnings from Germany’s Prescription Digital Therapeutics Program (DiGA), illustrating the true potential of prescription digital therapeutics, with appropriate regulatory and reimbursement pathways.

Interested in joining the coalitions? Contact Andy Molnar (amolnar@ataaction.org).

State Policy Updates

Pennsylvania Introduced Bill On Health AI; ATA Action Continues to Engage 

HB 1925 has been introduced in the state legislature, regulating the use of AI for clinical decision-making by healthcare facilities/providers and use of AI by insurers. A few of our suggested changes were included in the version introduced. We still have concerns with some of the key definitions, provisions around compliance reporting to the state, and new oversight of third-party vendors, and we will re-engage with the sponsor.  

Chapter Amendments Proposed on NY Privacy Bill

Governor Hochul's office proposed initial chapter amendments to the legislature on the problematic Health Information Privacy Act. The amendments would align the definition of regulated health information with Washington's My Health My Data Act, eliminate the 24-hour waiting period for authorization, define regulated health entities as those entities serving NY consumers, and adjust the effective date. The amendments do not include changing the problematic strict data minimization standard. 

California Enacts Two Bills on Private Investment in Healthcare  
Governor Newsom signed two bills before adding new requirements on private investment in healthcare entities, legislation that ATA Action engaged on heavily. 

• SB351 reflects existing Medical Board policy and restricts private equity/hedge funds (broadly defined) from interfering with clinical decision making and adds new requirements around non-compete and non-disparagement clauses. 
• AB1415 would significantly expand oversight of the Office for Healthcare Affordability (OHCA), adding new transactions subject to the notice/review process, including those involving certain Management Service Organizations (MSOs) related to revenue cycle management or provider rate negotiation. 

RURAL HEALTH TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM: UPDATED FAQs

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid recently published an updated FAQs for the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), including details on application requirements, funding rules, and post-award implementation:

• Funding and use of funds: including rollover rules, administrative caps, and provider payment limits.
• Budgeting clarity: using a hypothetical $200 million annual award when developing budgets, then scaling initiatives after final award amounts are set.
• Workforce commitments: clinicians must be physically located in rural areas for the required five-year service period.
• Rural Tech Catalyst Fund: confirms a $3 million cap per company and a 10% limit per state, with clearer rules.
• Infrastructure and renovation guidance: defines what qualifies as “minor alterations” or “capital expenditures.”
• Provider payment limits: confirms that provider payments cannot exceed 15% of total funding and must be tied to specific initiatives and measurable outcomes.
• Unallowable costs clarified: funds cannot be used for lobbying, new construction, broadband infrastructure, endowments, or operating expenses with no sustainability plan.