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Committee considers one-year extension for telehealth study, to examine federal policy and post‑COVID trends
Summary
Representatives and health advocates told the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee that a previously chartered telehealth study commission should be reestablished for one supplemental report to capture post‑COVID usage patterns and to examine federal policy implications.
The House Committee on Health and Human Services and Elderly Affairs on Wednesday heard testimony on House Bill 72, a bill to extend a commission that studied telehealth services and allow a supplemental report with an expanded charter to examine federal policies and potentially recommend legislation.
Representative Jess Edwards, prime sponsor, told the committee the original commission’s final report was based on data heavily influenced by the COVID‑19 pandemic and recommended a short extension to gather “status quo” data after pandemic distortions subside. “Because the final data that we used to do the final report was heavily influenced by COVID,” Edwards said, “we wanted to let it run another couple of years so that we could get status quo data.”
The bill would continue a now‑expired study group for an additional term and add explicit language to review federal telehealth policy trends. Edwards said the commission also wants explicit authority to recommend legislation if members identify policy changes worth pursuing.
Holly Stevens, director of public policy for NAMI New Hampshire, said behavioral health accounts for the large majority of telehealth claims in the state and urged support for continued study. “From the claims data … 80 to 90% of all claims filed for telehealth were behavioral health claims,” Stevens said, adding that roughly half of appointments for psychotherapists and substance‑use counselors are now delivered via telehealth.
Representative William Palmer, a cosponsor, reported conversations with medical staff at regional hospitals who consider telehealth “a critical piece of primary care access,” and said uncertainty about payer policies — including private insurers and Medicare — is a continuing concern for the field.
Committee members asked about whether the work should be made permanent rather than extended and about synchronizing the commission’s work with federal programs. Edwards said he plans to fold longer‑term telehealth and converging medical technologies issues into the emerging medical technologies committee he chairs and recommended keeping HB 72 narrowly focused as a short extension to permit better data collection and alignment with the new committee.
No formal action was taken by the committee on HB 72 during the hearing; the public hearing was closed with no vote recorded.
