For leaders making digital integral to how care is accessed, delivered, and scaled.
Dear ATA Community,
As we move through a pivotal year for digital care, one theme continues to rise across our conversations and was prevalent at NEXUS: the need to close the gap between digital access and meaningful continuity of care.
I’ve seen this firsthand. As digital-first care evolves, we’re seeing more direct-to-consumer diagnostics and imaging, but too often, patients are left holding abnormal results with no clear next step. In a landscape that’s rapidly scaling digital workflow and solutions, we must ensure those solutions are connected, trusted, and capable of guiding patients to action. This month’s updates explore how leading organizations are doing just that.
You’ll hear from health systems like CHRISTUS and Eagle Telemedicine, who are addressing workforce shortages through targeted tele-MFM programs that reduce patient transfers and keep families closer to home. We also spotlight UPMC, Mayo Clinic, and Houston Methodist as they look ahead to the next three years of AI-driven transformation—anchored in real-time clinical support and home-based care.
From CommonSpirit Health to Mass General Brigham, health systems are rebounding financially, but the divide between top performers and struggling hospitals continues to widen. That’s why our policy work is more important than ever. With the ATA Policy Council now accepting applicants for its next term, I encourage you to consider applying and helping shape the future of telehealth at both the state and federal levels.
Finally, we turn toward caregivers. The ATA Healthy Aging SIG is doing important work to understand how digital health tools can better support the nearly 50 million Americans caring for a loved one, often without the support they need. Their insights are helping define what equitable, effective virtual care looks like for aging populations.
Thank you for being part of this community. The innovations shared this month remind us that true transformation doesn’t just happen at the point of care—it lives in the systems, policies, and partnerships that support it.
Eagle Telemedicine Enhancing Maternal‑Fetal Medicine with Telemedicine
When CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic in Tyler, TX faced care gaps and burnout with only a single maternal fetal medicine (MFM) specialist, they partnered with Eagle Telemedicine. The tele‑MFM program delivered an additional 154 clinical & ultrasound consults per month, easing the on‑call burden, reducing patient transfers, and keeping expectant families closer to home. Read More »
UPMC, Mayo Clinic, Houston Methoodist
The Next 3 Years of Tech in Healthcare: What Will Be Possible?
Over the next three years, healthcare leaders anticipate a major shift toward virtual-first, patient-centered care powered by AI. Experts from ATA members UPMC, Mayo Clinic, and Houston Methodist predict expanded home-based services, real-time clinical decision support, and AI tools that streamline documentation and enhance the patient-provider experience. While the technology is advancing rapidly, the pace of adoption will depend on regulatory frameworks, reimbursement models, and building trust among clinicians and patients. Read More »
CommonSpirit Health, Providence St. Joseph Health, UPMC, Ascension, Trinity Health, Mass General Brigham, AdventHealth
The Top 10 Nonprofit Health Systems by 2024 Operating Revenue
2024 will go down as a rebound year for the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems, with strong demand, improved payer contracts, and tighter cost controls driving solid revenue and margin gains. Collectively, the top 10 systems saw a 10.6% jump in operating revenue year-over-year—even as challenges like labor costs and uneven performance across the sector persist. The outlook is brighter, but not without warnings of a growing divide between top performers and struggling hospitals. Read More »
Current Health / Best Buy
Best Buy sells Current Health to former CEO
This week, Best Buy‘s home health subsidiary Current Health revealed it was once again an independent company run by cofounder Chris McGhee, who left the company in 2024. McGhee told me he plans to focus Current on home hospital offerings and other high-acuity care opportunities, and to move the company toward profitability. Read More »
Community Update
26 Health Systems Dropping Medicare Advantage Plans
Becker's Hospital Review reports that providers are letting their contracts lapse—citing frustrations with high prior-authorization denial rates and slow insurer payments. Meanwhile, CMS has begun offering special enrollment periods to affected beneficiaries, allowing them to switch plans or return to Original Medicare when their providers drop out. The trend reflects growing tensions between provider groups and insurers over administrative burdens and reimbursement structures. Read More »
Help Shape Telehealth Policy: Apply for the ATA Policy Council We’re seeking applicants for a two-year term on the ATA Policy Council. Members help guide ATA’s advocacy on key state and federal issues. Apply by June 30; notifications by July 18.
CODE Virtual Roundtable: Clinical Command Center Models Tuesday, July 29 | 1:00–2:30 PM ET
Open to the Public
Hosted by MedStar Health and other leading Health Systems
Discover how leading health systems are standing up clinical command centers to improve efficiency, care coordination, and outcomes. This interactive roundtable will explore real-world models for co-location, staffing, infrastructure, governance, and change management, equipping you with actionable strategies to design or scale your own command center.
Featured speakers from top health systems will share expert insights and lessons learned from their own command center journeys. Whether you're building from scratch or optimizing an existing model, this roundtable offers a rare opportunity to learn directly from those who’ve operationalized clinical command centers—sharing the blueprints, lessons, and strategies you won’t find anywhere else.
From within CODE: What’s Next: Scaling the Digital Hospital – Addressing Hardware and Connectivity Challenges
The latest ATA blog highlights how the Center of Digital Excellence (CODE) is helping hospitals overcome critical tech hurdles as they digitize inpatient care. It dives into the nuts and bolts—hardware procurement, robust Wi‑Fi, connected devices, and telehealth infrastructure, spotlighting real-world strategies and shared best practices from leading health systems. A must-read for healthcare leaders looking to scale digital care at the bedside. Read Blog »
Designing Scalable, Human-Centered Primary Care: Greg Weidner, MD on One Medical’s Hybrid Model
In this episode, Dr. Joe Kvedar sits down with Greg Weidner, MD, Senior Medical Director of Virtual Health at One Medical, to explore how One Medical is redesigning primary care for a digital-first world. They discuss the power of hybrid models that blend virtual and in-person care, the importance of human connection in an increasingly tech-enabled system, and how thoughtful design can reduce administrative burden while improving access and outcomes.
Dr. Weidner shares lessons from One Medical’s growth, the role of technology in supporting—not replacing—clinicians, and what it takes to build scalable, relationship-based care models that work for both patients and care teams. Listen to Podcast »
Joe Kvedar, MD Past Chair & Senior Clinical Advisor, ATA
Greg Weidner, MD Vice President, Care Model Design and Innovation; Senior Medical Director, Virtual Care - One Medical
July 29, 2025 | 1:00 PM ET | Virtual CODE Virtual Roundtable: Clinical Command Center Models
Discover how leading health systems are standing up clinical command centers to improve efficiency, care coordination, and outcomes. This interactive roundtable will explore real-world models for co-location, staffing, infrastructure, governance, and change management, equipping you with actionable strategies to design or scale your own command center. Register Here »
November 16-18, 2025 | Orlando, FL ATA Insights Summit This ATA Insights Summit brings together healthcare executives to co-create implementation frameworks, operational tools, and strategic blueprints for digital transformation. Each focus area is shaped by collaborative sessions with clinical, operational, and digital leaders. Learn more and Apply »
Save the Date: December 10-12, 2025 | Washington, DC ATA EDGE Policy Conference The place where digital policy meets care model transformation. Shape care reimbursement, licensing, and workforce policy, alongside the systems and stakeholders defining what comes next.
Save the Date: May 12-14, 2026 | Orlando, FL NEXUS 2026 The premier event dedicated to advancing innovation in digital health and care delivery. Bringing together experts, clinicians, C-suite leaders, researchers and investors, Nexus fosters collaboration, explores innovation, and provides tools to drive meaningful change.
ATA Healthy Aging SIG Leveraging Telehealth to Support Caregivers and Those They Care For
Family caregivers play a vital role in supporting healthcare delivery—and telehealth can ease their burden while improving outcomes. The average caregiver is 49 years old, caring for a loved one around age 69, with nearly half of care recipients over 75. As digital tools become more essential, older adults are rapidly adopting technology: smartphone use is rising, video chat has surged post-COVID, and tech spending among those 50+ has nearly tripled since 2019. Understanding how caregivers and their loved ones use digital health tools is key to designing more effective, equitable virtual care. Read More »
Upcoming SIG Meetings
DTx APAC Policy SIG Meeting 🗓️ Tuesday, July 8 🕛 2:00 AM ET
Digital Health Research SIG Meeting 🗓️ Wednesday, July 9 🕛 12:00 PM ET
Government Relations SIG Meeting 🗓️ Wednesday, July 9 🕛 3:00 PM ET
Telehealth Technology SIG Meeting 🗓️ Thursday, July 10 🕛 1:00 PM ET
Digital Transformation SIG Meeting 🗓️ Thursday, July 17 🕛 2:00 PM ET
Remote Monitoring SIG Meeting 🗓️ Tuesday, July 22 🕛 3:00 PM ET
Pediatric Telehealth SIG Meeting 🗓️ Thursday July 31 🕛 2:00 PM ET
Last week, the Senate Finance Committee released their draft portion of the reconciliation text which included some major changes from the House version, specifically increasing Medicaid cuts, cutting back on PBM reform, and eliminating the Health Savings Account (HSA) section. We understand the HSA provision is not dead yet, and the Senate is still negotiating legislative text to ensure they have the votes to get this through the Senate.
ATA Action continues to advocate for inclusion of the first dollar coverage of High Deductible Health Plans-Health Savings Accounts (HDHP-HSA) and will continue the push until this bill passes through Congress. If not included in the final reconciliation, there will be other opportunities to include HDHP-HSA – and our other policy priorities – in other legislative vehicles
Favorable Opinion from the Office of Inspector General
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued an Advisory Opinion concerning a proposed arrangement where a physician-owned professional corporation (PC) and its affiliated management services organization (MSO) contract with telehealth platform entities to lease clinicians and provide administrative services (i.e., billing, IT, marketing). Contracted clinicians would deliver services under the PC’s contracts with commercial and government payors. All payments would be predetermined, set at fair market value by independent consultants, and would not be related to the volume or value of referrals or reimbursement.
The OIG determined that while the arrangement involves remuneration that could potentially implicate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), it satisfies the requirements of the “personal services and management contracts” safe harbor, and thus the OIG would not pursue enforcement action. However, the opinion does not address broader issues such as state corporate practice of medicine laws or payor credentialing requirements, but does provide a valuable compliance framework for such collaborations.
Responses Submitted To Federal Agencies
ATA Action responded to several federal agencies requesting information on key policy topics impacting our industry, including:
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to help inform their national drug control strategy.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC) to provide guidance on identifying which aspects of the current digital health ecosystem are functioning well, which need improvement, and which are creating barriers to progress, as well as input to inform potential future rulemaking to improve health data exchange, foster innovation in consumer digital health products, and enhance engagement among patients, caregivers, and providers with these technologies. Read ATA Action’s comments submitted last week.
STATE POLICY UPDATES
ATA Action has been closely engaged in SB351, which seeks to put the California Medical Board's guidance on corporate practice of medicine into state statute. We had requested further clarity on the list of duties reserved for the medical corporation to ensure that management services organizations (MSOs) or other non-physicians could still participate and collaborate on these tasks. This bill was favorably amended to reflect our input.
ATA Action resent a letter in support of California SB 508 regarding out of state telehealth providers.
ATA Action sent a letter raising concerns with California AB 1503 regarding the Board of Pharmacy.
For ATA Action’s comprehensive tracker of critical state legislation, click here.
From Washington, DC — with 🧡 for the work our community leads in care.
ATA, 601 13th St NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, United States
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