Patient Impact of Medicare Telehealth Coverage Rollback

Thanks for taking a few minutes to share your experience with Medicare's telehealth coverage changes. Your answers help policymakers and health systems understand how these changes are affecting patients like you. Your responses are completely confidential and anonymized. This should take about 5-7 minutes.

In the last 6 months, has your Medicare coverage for telehealth (video or phone) visits changed?

• Yes, coverage was reduced or ended for some visits
• Yes, but coverage has stayed about the same
• No change that I'm aware of
• Not sure

Which types of telehealth visits have you used in the last 12 months?

• Primary care check-ins
• Mental or behavioral health counseling
• Specialist consultations
• Chronic disease management (e.g., diabetes, blood pressure)
• Prescription refills or medication management
• Physical or occupational therapy
• Other

How much has the recent change in telehealth coverage affected your ability to get the care you need?

Since the coverage change, how much do you agree with each statement about your own experience?

Think of the most recent time a telehealth visit you wanted was no longer covered. What did you do?

• Paid out of pocket for the telehealth visit
• Switched to an in-person visit
• Delayed getting care
• Skipped the visit entirely
• Found a different, lower-cost provider or option
• This hasn't happened to me

How would you rate your current ability to access telehealth visits under Medicare?

Which of these changes would help you the most versus the least in getting the care you need?

• Restoring coverage for mental health telehealth visits
• Restoring coverage for specialist telehealth consultations
• Lower copays or cost-sharing for telehealth visits
• Coverage for audio-only (phone-only) visits
• Being able to keep seeing the same doctor via telehealth
• Faster approval or reimbursement for telehealth claims
• Expanded telehealth options for chronic disease management
• Clearer information about what is currently covered

Reconstruct in detail what happened the most recent time this patient's Medicare telehealth coverage change affected their care: what the visit or need was, what they tried, what got in the way, and how it was ultimately resolved or not. If they say the change hasn't affected them yet, probe whether they're worried about future changes and what specifically concerns them, anchoring on any condition they manage regularly.

Just a few last questions about you — these help us see whether the impact differs across patient groups. All are optional.

Which best describes your Medicare coverage?

• Original Medicare
• Medicare Advantage
• Medicare plus a Medigap supplemental plan
• Dual eligible (Medicare and Medicaid)
• Not sure
• Prefer not to say

What is your age range?

• Under 65 (disability or other qualifying reason)
• 65-74
• 75-84
• 85 or older
• Prefer not to say

Which best describes where you live?

• Urban
• Suburban
• Rural
• Prefer not to say

Thank you for sharing your experience. Your responses will be combined with others to build a report on how telehealth coverage changes are affecting Medicare patients' access to and continuity of care.