NYS Hep C Telemedicine Workgroup – Meeting Notes
July 16 (10 – 11 AM) via Webinar
In attendance at this meeting: See below notes
Next Meeting: Thursday, August 20 – 10:00 AM
Workgroup Chair: Andrew Talal, MD, University at Buffalo, ahtalal@buffalo.edu
Workgroup goals: Short term: Identify, assess, document and disseminate current strategies and opportunities to provide hepatitis C treatment in substance use treatment facilities, via telemedicine. Long-term: Develop a NYS Telehealth network to provide a forum for ongoing learning and sharing of best practices to promote hepatitis B and C care and treatment through telehealth.
Meeting Notes
HCV TX in Substance use TX programs
- Sending a letter to OASAS, the Governor’s Office and Medicaid Director is an acceptable approach
- OASAS is concerned with HCV treatment implementation in OTPS including OTP Provider capacity to treat HCV, the need for provider training, and the lack of care coordination services
- Questions posed by group members:
- Can health insurance pay for telemedicine for health care services (ex. HIV care) other than those delivered by IOP-intensive outpatient program (ex. mental health evaluation). Will be discussed with OASAS Legal
- Need to assess racial disparities in HCV treatment access depending upon involvement in methadone vs buprenorphine treatment
- Recommendation to propose HCV treatment in OTP model to CMS as an innovation center or another form of demonstration project.
Telemedicine implementation Discussion
- HCV medication prior approval process is currently very fast. There is no longer the requirement for full set of labs.
- Data on HCV treatment via telemedicine efficacy and acceptability would be useful for CMS
Workgroup Planning
- Invite billing person to workgroup
- Medicare physician care fee schedule – comment period comingUpd
Resources
- NYS Telehealth Resources for hepatitis providers – webpage on Hep Free NYC
- Weekly webinar series: Telehealth During the Public Health Emergency: Training for Practices. NYC Health Dept.
In Attendance:
- Aisha Khan, DO, Hudson River Health Care, aikhan@hrhcare.org
- Alvin Chu, MA, MPH, START Treatment and Recovery Centers, achu@startny.org
- Andrew Talal, MD, SUNY Research Foundation, ahtalal@buffalo.edu
- Angelica Ramirez, Mount Sinai Health System, angelica.ramirez@mountsinai.org
- Anthony McLeod, START Treatment and Recovery Centers, amcleod@startny.org
- Arslan Mohamed, NYC DOHMH, amohamed1@health.nyc.gov
- Cassandre Walker, START Treatment and Recovery Centers, cwalker@startny.org
- Colleen Flanigan, RN, NYS DOH, colleen.flanigan@health.ny.gov
- Frank Winter, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, Winter@cms.hhs.gov
- Irving Dela Cruz, START Treatment and Recovery Centers, idealcruz@startny.org
- Jeff Weiss, REACH, jeffrey.weiss@mountsinai.org
- Jessie Schwartz, RN, MPH, NYC DOHMH, jschwartz2@health.nyc.gov
- Julia Hunter, Binghamton General Hospital, julia.hunter@nyuhs.org
- Kelly Ramsey, MD, OASAS, kelly.ramsey@oasas.ny.gov
- Laura Shannon, Hudson River Healthcare, lshannon@hrhcare.org
- Marie Bresnahan, MPH, NYC DOHMH, mbresnahan@health.nyc.gov
- Meg Chappell, MPH, Empire Liver Foundation, megchapell@empireliverfoundation.org
- Nadine Kela-Murphy, MPH, NYC DOHMH, nkelamurphy@health.nyc.gov
- Nirah Johnson, LCSW, NYC DOHMH, njohnso2@health.nyc.gov
- Sandeep Krishnan, MBA, MS, Med Tech International, sandeep.krishnan@medtecintl.com
- Stephanie McHugh, NYCDOHMH, stephanie.mchugh@health.ny.gov
- Tessy Koshy, START Treatment and Recovery Centers, tkoshy@startny.org
