Securing the Future of Telehealth: Why Accurate CBO Scoring Matters
Telehealth services have transformed healthcare access, especially for rural and underserved communities, but the path to making these benefits permanent hinges on one crucial factor: an accurate Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score. As Congress considers the Telehealth Modernization Act (TMA) to establish permanent telehealth access, ensuring accurate projections of its financial and healthcare impacts is essential for success. Here’s why scoring matters—and how organizations like CTeL, in collaboration with experts like Charm Economics, are leading the charge to provide critical research.
The Importance of an Accurate CBO Score
The CBO’s score is more than just a budget estimate—it’s a tool that determines whether legislation is feasible and sustainable. A poorly calculated score can jeopardize a bill’s passage by overestimating costs or underestimating savings, causing unnecessary political and financial hurdles.
If the CBO scores the TMA inaccurately, several consequences could follow:
Legislative Failure: An inflated cost projection might deter lawmakers from supporting the bill, delaying or even preventing its implementation.
Missed Opportunities: An underestimated score might not allocate enough funding, leaving essential telehealth programs under-resourced.
Policy Backtracking: Inaccurate scoring can lead to rushed amendments, undermining the integrity of the final legislation.
What Congress and the CBO Need to Do
To ensure an accurate score, Congress and the CBO must focus on the following:
Comprehensive Data Collection: Understanding telehealth’s real impact requires detailed data on utilization, outcomes, and costs. This includes analyzing Medicare spending, patient outcomes, and broader healthcare delivery trends.
Substitution vs. Supplementation: Does telehealth replace in-person visits or add to overall healthcare utilization? This distinction is vital, as increased usage without corresponding efficiencies could inflate costs.
Payment Parity Analysis: Examining reimbursement parity between telehealth and in-person visits can reveal whether adjustments are needed to reflect telehealth’s unique cost structure.
Fraud Prevention: Establishing safeguards against fraudulent practices ensures accurate reporting and protects the system from abuse.
Long-Term Projections: Extending budgetary forecasts beyond the standard 10-year window offers a clearer picture of the financial implications, including potential savings from reduced hospitalizations and emergency care.
Legislative Precision: Clear, detailed proposals streamline the scoring process and reduce room for error.
CTeL’s Research Efforts and Why Your Support Matters
At CTeL, we are committed to providing the data and analysis Congress needs to secure telehealth’s future. Partnering with leading economic and healthcare policy experts like Charm Economics, we are conducting in-depth studies on telehealth’s utilization, cost-effectiveness, and long-term benefits.
Our collaborative efforts focus on:
Highlighting the cost savings associated with reduced hospital visits and better chronic disease management.
Addressing fraud prevention strategies to reassure policymakers.
Offering insights into how telehealth can equitably serve diverse populations.
Your support fuels this vital research. By joining us, you help bridge the gap between innovation and legislation, ensuring that telehealth continues to expand access and improve outcomes for millions of Americans.
Join the Movement
Telehealth has proven its value, but its future is far from guaranteed. By supporting CTeL’s work, you play a critical role in shaping policies that benefit patients, providers, and healthcare systems. Together, we can ensure that telehealth access becomes a permanent fixture of modern healthcare.
Act Now: Support CTeL’s Research
Visit our research support page to learn more about our initiatives and how you can contribute to advancing telehealth policy. Let’s make the Telehealth Modernization Act a reality—because accessible, equitable healthcare should be here to stay.