Consider Safe Harbors to Increase Participation in Connected Care Pilot, Ochsner Tells FCC

Healthcare providers face key barriers and challenges to participating in the FCC's proposed Connected Care pilot program, including statutory and regulatory limitations under anti-kickback requirements and Medicare and Medicaid payment and coverage policies, "including the manner in which various federal pilot program requirements might intersect or conflict between one another," said Ochsner Health System in a meeting with FCC staff and a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-213. Meeting participants discussed complexities of using safe harbors available under the anti-kickback statutes via the Office of Inspector General, and waivers from the Department of Health and Human Services under a Medicare Shared Savings Program, Ochsner said. Such waivers "might allow leveraging digital platforms and devices as part of any FCC Connected Care Initiative program to increase overall understanding of the opportunities to improve health outcomes for underserved, hard-to-reach, and/or at-risk populations," it said. Ochsner said it has used patient monitors connected to smartphones and tablets to send data for analysis by its clinical care teams.