AAFP Webinar Preps Members for End of Public Health Emergency
CMS Explains What Will and Won’t Change for FPs on May 11
May 1, 2023, News Staff — A new members-only webinar with AAFP President Tochi Iroku-Malize, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., and a CMS senior adviser explains changes to several key pandemic-related policies that will accompany the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. It’s the latest in a series of Academy resources and guidance to help FPs prepare for the May 11 PHE expiration.
Iroku-Malize’s April 24 conversation with Will Harris, J.D., confirmed that Medicare coverage for COVID-19 vaccination and treatment will remain in place without cost-sharing after May 11 and that most Medicare telehealth flexibilities, including coverage for audio-only appointments, extend through 2024. The webinar also addressed how family physicians can help patients who may be at risk of losing Medicaid coverage.
Harris, whose work for CMS includes pandemic and emergency responses and the agency’s oversight priorities at the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and the Center for Program Integrity, talked about the development and contents of CMS’ post-PHE “roadmap” and noted that patients prefer to receive health information from their physicians. The roadmap reflects the Academy’s advocacy throughout the pandemic, including a call for comprehensive guidance about navigating the unwinding of related policies.
The recording is part of the AAFP’s efforts to ensure that federal and state policies post-PHE recognize and protect family medicine’s foundational role in the nation’s health care system — and that members have the information and resources to adapt to what’s ahead.