For Leaders Driving Digital Transformation Across Every Dimension of Care.

AdventHealth

AdventHealth Hospital To Roll Out AI-Powered Smart Rooms

AdventHealth Manchester will begin deploying AI-enabled “smart rooms” in fall 2025, with full rollout planned by 2026. These rooms will feature video consultations, digital whiteboards, AI-driven monitoring, and remote rounding capabilities to enhance patient-clinician communication, safety and experience. Read More »

CommonSpirit Health

Virtual Nursing Expands Into Outpatient Settings

Virtual nursing is expanding beyond hospitals into outpatient settings, with systems like CommonSpirit Health and Emory Healthcare using digital nurses to triage after-hours calls, schedule follow-up care and address social/medication needs. The move reflects a broader shift toward using remote nursing to manage ambulatory and home-care workflows and improve care continuity. Read More »

Mayo Clinic

How Mayo Clinic Uses AI To Detect Sleep Apnea

Mayo Clinic has developed an AI algorithm that analyzes 12-lead ECG data from over 11,000 patients to detect Obstructive Sleep Apnea. The study found the algorithm identified stronger apnea-related signals in women’s ECGs—even though women in the study had milder sleep apnea symptoms—suggesting potential for more accessible screening, especially for female patients. Read More »

Ready To Roll Up Your Sleeves and Build the Next Phase of Care Delivery?
📍ATA Insights Summit | November 16–18 | Orlando, FL

Join us November 16-18 in Orlando for a truly collaborative, action-oriented experience where you’ll work alongside leading health system change-makers, clinicians, and digital-care architects.

This isn’t a passive event; it’s a working summit where you’ll co-develop operational frameworks, ROI tools, and implementation roadmaps with experts actively scaling digital-enabled models across care settings.

If you’re ready to move from aspiration to action and partner with those doing the work of redesigning care, this is your time.

👉 Apply to Attend »

FEDERAL POLICY UPDATES

Thirty-seven days into the shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history, there remains little sign of movement toward a deal to reopen the government. While some essential programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have been partially extended to soften the blow, the shutdown’s economic and operational strain continues to deepen. The FAA has announced a 10% reduction in flight capacity at 40 major airports beginning this week, threatening to snarl travel nationwide and intensify public pressure on Washington to act.

Democrats, buoyed by their recent Election Day victories and President Trump’s own acknowledgment that the shutdown has hurt Republicans politically, are holding firm. They insist on securing at least a vote, if not a firm commitment, on extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies before agreeing to any funding measure. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, maintain that the government must first reopen before policy negotiations can resume. With both sides entrenched and no clear path forward, the question now is how much longer the public, and the economy, can withstand a shutdown without resolution.

The Medicare telehealth flexibilities and Acute Hospital Care at Home Program are still expired. The longer the shutdown continues the more hospital systems and providers must determine whether to reduce or pause telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries. ATA Action is continuing to push for a long-term fix in the next viable vehicle to move through Congress. We are also sharing anecdotal patient and provider stories with key Congressional committees to help them understand the real world implications of the shutdown.

Stakeholder Letter Urges Congress to Act Immediately on a Long-term Fix for Telehealth

ATA Action, the ATA, and over 450 stakeholder organizations sent a letter to Congressional leadership this week, strongly urging Members of Congress to immediately act on a long-term telehealth fix in its next legislative package to ensure stability and provide clarity for patients, providers, and the health care system as a whole. In the letter, organizations are asking Congress to work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reinstate Medicare telehealth access as quickly as possible and ensure retroactive payment for practitioners that are maintaining patient access to critical services during this lapse.

Read the Stakeholder Letter Urging Congress for a Long-term Telehealth Fix.

Reactions to Final CY2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, Ongoing Concerns About Telehealth Provider Enrollment And Location Policies

Late last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted the final 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), which took a number of positive steps in support of telehealth including expanded coverage, streamlined processes, and permanent adoption of key flexibilities.

CMS also finalized an important provision that was not included in the proposed rule that we advocated for, which permanently allows teaching physicians to supervise residents virtually, when the patient, resident and supervising clinician are in separate locations, in all teaching settings.

However, the issue of provider location and home address reporting has not yet been fully resolved in the final PFS, which could significantly impact healthcare providers when the current flexibility expires on December 31. ATA Action will continue to engage with CMS on this issue seeking effective, practical solutions and clear guidance for providers delivering care from home.

CMS took significant steps forward in digital health more broadly, finalizing its proposals to create new remote monitoring codes for 2-15 days of data collection over a 30-day period and expand digital mental health treatment codes to include devices used in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) if classified for use under 21 C.F.R. 882.5803.

Read our full statement here.

Mounting Concerns Around Access to Care Include December Deadline for Remote Prescribing Flexibilities

As the ongoing government shutdown stretches into its second month, and despite broad bipartisan support for telehealth, patients and providers are being severely impacted by the lapse of Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home program. Further, unless the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and other federal partners act swiftly, critical flexibilities allowing the remote prescribing of controlled substances are set to expire on December 31. The Trump Administration has the authority to extend this waiver immediately, regardless of the shutdown.

"Every day, patients who rely on telemedicine for opioid use disorder care safely receive essential medicines under the current remote prescribing flexibilities. We’ve seen unprecedented improvement in opioid overdose outcomes as treatment access has expanded under the remote prescribing flexibilities,” noted Brian Clear, MD, FASAM, Chief Medical Officer, Bicycle Health, and member of ATA Action. “Allowing the waivers to expire on December 31 would needlessly disrupt lifesaving treatment for hundreds of thousands of people and risk reversing that progress by cutting off evidence-based care mid-course. The Administration can extend the current flexibilities now so that no one loses care while a permanent solution is still in development."

Read our full press statement here.

Make Your Voice Heard!

Our grassroots advocacy tool, which makes it easy to reach out to your Members of Congress urging them to extend the telehealth flexibilities, remains active. Feel free to share far and wide!

Please Take the ATA/ATA Action Member Survey: Impact of Government Shutdown on Telehealth 

Members of Congress and key committees of jurisdiction are seeking concrete data and real-world examples of how the ongoing federal government shutdown and the lapse in the Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home Program is affecting providers and patients.  

ATA Action has developed a brief (5-10 minute) survey to better understand the operational, logistical, and administrative steps your organizations are taking during this challenging period. Your input will directly support ATA Action's advocacy and policy efforts. While individual responses will remain confidential, ATA Action may share aggregated findings to help inform congressional messaging, reinforce the need for immediate action, and advocate for a long-term, stable telehealth policy solution. 

Here is a link to the survey. Thank you for taking a few minutes to share your experience. 

Sign-on Letter: Support the Remote Patient Monitoring Access Act 

Rural Patient Monitoring (RPM) Access Act (S. 1535/H.R. 3108) would ensure Medicare patients in rural and underserved communities have access to remote physiologic monitoring services, which lower costs and improve access to care by using technology to collect and transmit patient health data to healthcare providers. If interested in supporting this legislation, please sign the letter to Congress requesting additional cosponsors. A one-pager can be found here. 

Expanded Agenda: FDA Digital Health Advisory Committee (DHAC) Meeting Today

The DHAC is having its first meeting since November 2024 on November 6. According to a recently published agenda, the committee will not only discuss potential premarket and postmarket requirements for chatbots and software that constitute “generative AI-enabled digital mental health medical devices” but will also weigh in on digital mental health therapeutics and diagnostics that may not use AI technology. Based on the meeting materials, it appears most of the discussion will be centered around “automated” mental health therapy more broadly rather than focused on use of artificial intelligence.

Multiple Food and Drug (FDA) officials will kick off the DHAC meeting by discussing the FDA’s perspective on digital mental health devices, according to the agenda.

Meeting information and materials are available here. Andy Molnar is in attendance and will provide a recap at a special ADHC meeting on Friday, November 14, at 2:30 pm ET.

State Policy Updates

California Enacts AI Bills on Healthcare Title Protection and Chatbots

AB489 makes clear that title protection laws apply to AI and prohibits applying a licensed professional title to an AI system or giving the impression that care being offered through an AI system is being provided by a healthcare provider.  

SB243 adds a number of new requirements for "companion chatbots," which are chatbots that provide adaptive human-like responses and are capable of sustaining a relationship across multiple interactions. The bill requires these chatbots to be disclosed as AI and to implement a number of guardrails around suicide and for minors.

Wisconsin Cross State Licensure Bill Crosses Over

Earlier this month, SB 214 crossed over from the Senate to the Assembly. This legislation would create a registration system for credentialed healthcare providers in other states to deliver healthcare services via telehealth in Wisconsin if the provider is in good standing and meets other conditions.

California Board of Psychology Issues Telehealth Rulemaking

The California Board of Psychology recently released a rulemaking regarding Standards of Practice for Telehealth Services. More information can also be found in the statement of reasons and the notice of proposed actions. The proposed amendments ensure that telehealth services meet the same professional and ethical standards as in-person care. The amendments also clarify the Board’s jurisdiction over all psychological services delivered via telehealth, including services provided across state lines or by supervised individuals, eliminating ambiguity and reinforcing regulatory oversight. The amendments also remove outdated language to ensure the regulation reflects current telehealth technologies and practices. Further, the amendments refine the criteria for determining when telehealth is clinically appropriate, helping ensure services are tailored to individual client needs and delivered ethically.

From Washington, DC — with 🧡 for the work our community leads in care.