Clinical Notes AI CEO Ross Young

Telehealth

Telehealth Prescribing Extended Through 2025

In a move that surprised basically no one, the DEA is extending pandemic-era telehealth prescribing flexibilities for controlled substances through the end of 2025.

The “Third Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications” was officially published on November 19th, ending a months-long stalemate among regulators.

The third time’s the charm (hopefully). The extension gives providers another year to prescribe Schedule II-V medications for conditions like ADHD and opioid addiction without first conducting in-person evaluations.

• The move maintains the status quo that’s been in place since COVID hit, while effectively punting the decision on formal legislation to the new White House.

• Both the DEA and the HHS will have fresh leadership, and it remains to be seen how the two agencies will work together to address the matter.

The policy hot potato just got passed to the Trump administration, so telehealth companies and patients will both have to prepare for another year of regulatory limbo.

• By failing to issue a final rule, the DEA at least gains time to revise its most recent draft rules that sparked nearly 40k comments worth of industry pushback.

• Those rules included requirements that half of a provider’s controlled substance prescriptions be written for patients seen in-person, and that every patient must be checked against drug monitoring programs in all 50 states. 

It’s a classic tension in healthcare: balancing legitimate access against potential abuse.

• While the extension acknowledges the “urgent public health need” for access to addiction treatment meds like buprenorphine, the lack of legislation still leaves telehealth in a bucket of “stopgap measures” instead of “absolute necessities.”

• Punting the decision should also mean better guardrails can be developed to prevent abuse at a time when the founders of pandemic-era pill mills are either fleeing the country or forking over millions in fines.

The Takeaway

The telehealth prescribing can has been kicked down the road for another year, and the industry will now be watching to see whether the Trump administration decides to repeal it. It’s more likely than not that the extension will stick – this isn’t exactly a hot button issue like raw milk.

Curate, Create, & Share at the Point of Care

It’s hard to find a more unique vantage point on AI than Playback Health co-founder Dr. Langer, whose role as the Chair of Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill allows him to actually use the platform he helped create. Head over to Dr. Langer’s latest blog to see how Playback is helping him spend more time caring for patients and enabling providers to “Curate, Create, & Share” at the point of care.

Top Systems Scale Primary Care With K Health

Leading health systems are turning to K Health’s AI-driven primary care solution to give their patients access to high-quality care with wait times measured in hours, not months. Find out why K Health is the only clinical AI company partnering with top systems to scale fully integrated primary care experiences.

Bridging Care Gaps for Underserved Populations

Is your health system, rural health clinic, or federally qualified health center struggling to reach patients with obstacles to receiving in-person care? This Clear Arch Health whitepaper explores how combining RPM with VBC can help facilitate proactive interventions, address social determinants of health, and get the most out of new CMS reimbursement pathways.

The Wire

• Citizen Health Relaunch: Citizen Health, the consumer health data company formerly known as Ciitizen, relaunched with $14.5M in seed funding to pursue the same mission it was striving toward when Invitae acquired it in 2021: empower patients with full access to their complete medical history. The Citizen platform aggregates EHR data, genomic information, imaging, and self-reported outcomes to produce a holistic view of a patient’s health. That unlocks a ton of interesting use cases, but Citizen is starting by partnering with Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to drive research and drug development for rare diseases.

• Meals on Wheels for Seniors: Meals on Wheels and WellSky released a joint study exploring how healthcare orgs and community-based food access programs can team up to improve outcomes for seniors. The data showed an eye-popping 85% decrease in hospitalizations just 30 days after implementing a meal delivery intervention for seniors reporting food insecurity at discharge, with the reduction increasing to 93% at the 90-day mark. Most participants (98%) reported that Meals on Wheels helped in their recovery, while 61% claimed it reduced feelings of social isolation.

• Reimagine Care for Post-Operative Needs: On-demand cancer care provider Reimagine Care is expanding its symptom-management program to support surgical oncology patients. The expansion transforms the experience of post-operative cancer care with a suite of new features, including expert support (24/7 access to oncology APPs, RNs, and MAs to resolve concerns), proactive monitoring (an AI assistant that proactively checks in with patients) and tailored patient education (easy-to-follow guidance on topics like wound care and post-op nutrition).

• Homethrive Lands $20M: Homethrive secured $20M in unlabeled funding to extend the reach of its end-to-end caregiving platform to more payors and employers. The fresh capital was earmarked to bolster Homethrive’s platform with AI-driven care giver recommendations and patient engagement features, while also advancing care navigation capabilities for individuals with dementia and other chronic conditions.

• Omron’s De Novo Authorization: Omron Healthcare announced the FDA De Novo authorization of its AI-powered home blood pressure monitor, which uniquely adds AFib detection. Although AFib monitoring isn’t generally what comes to mind with a cuff-based BP monitoring device, the Omron monitors use AI to identify signs of AFib in pulse pressure waves as the cuff inflates, achieving 95% sensitivity and 98% specificity for AFib detection in a recent study.

• Sentara Integrates ThinkAndor: Sentara Health launched a new virtual nursing program powered by Andor Health platform to open up bandwidth for bedside nurses to directly care for patients. The ThinkAndor platform integrates with Sentara’s EHR to configure data-driven signals and automate interventions across pending admissions, timely discharge, and patient education. The program will start in medical-surgical and intermediate care units, with plans for expansion across the health system. 

• Breakthrough Device Designations: The FDA designated 166 products under its breakthrough devices program in its most recent financial year, reversing the downtrend seen since 2022. The number of devices designated through the program quickly climbed from 11 devices in 2015 to 206 devices by 2021, although the figure then began a decline back to 145 devices in 2023. A wave of new designations across cardiology, neurology, and orthopedics has driven most of this year’s turnaround.

• Impilo Series A: Care-at-home platform Impilo announced $11.5M in Series A funding to fuel the nationwide expansion of its integrated ecosystem of connected devices, diagnostics, and medical supplies. By combining fourth-party logistics (fully outsourced supply chain management) with seamless patient support, Impilo delivers a fully white-labeled solution to help “bring the clinic directly to the patient.” 

• Confluence + KeyCare: Washington-based Confluence Health is the latest system to start leveraging KeyCare’s Epic-native virtual care platform to enhance its care teams, optimize capacity, and expand its digital front door. The partnership went live in mid-October, allowing patients to access around-the-clock, in-network virtual care from the comfort of their homes.

• FDA Eyes Generative AI: The FDA on Wednesday opened the first meeting of its new Digital Health Advisory Committee, formed to guide the agency’s regulation of digital technologies in medicine. This inaugural meeting is focusing on generative AI – the FDA has not yet granted marketing authorization for a generative AI product, and the outcome of the discussion could guide its future decisions. The two-day meeting continues at 9 am ET on Thursday and interested parties can follow along on a livestream on YouTube.

Level Up With BPM Pro 2

Withings Health Solutions is leveling up remote monitoring programs with BPM Pro 2 – the first cellular blood pressure monitor to collect Patient Insights and streamline provider operations. Discover how BPM Pro 2 is giving time back to care teams by delivering the context behind each measurement.

The State of Payor Enrollment and Credentialing

We’re on the brink of a new era in healthcare. From AI-enabled chatbots to GenAI, Medallion’s latest report sheds light on how healthcare organizations are prioritizing automation, actively shaping their future with it, and hoping it can live up to its promise. Get the full report here.

Carle Health Goes All-In on Nabla

Nabla Copilot is rolling out at Carle Health after a successful pilot saw a majority of participating clinicians slash their documentation time by over an hour. The full case study has everything you need to know about how Nabla’s customization features, Epic integration, and ease of use are bringing joy back to medicine for Carle’s clinicians.

The Industry Wire

1. Trump nominates Dr. Oz to lead CMS.
2. New rules for TV and radio drug ads.
3. MGB primary care docs look to unionize.
4. Texas med school asked to stop liquefying cadavers.
5. University of Illinois nurses end strike after tentative agreement.
6. How home oxygen leader became “Multibillion-Dollar Medicare Scofflaw.”
7. OIG (again) rates HHS’s information security program “not effective.” 
8. Payor directories are full of wrong information.
9. How spinoff companies help Providence.
10. Woman arrested for posing as nurse and treating patients.