The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) “Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP),” notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), published September 15, 2025, provides States with an historic funding opportunity that seeks to help them transform healthcare delivery for their rural residents. Each state can separately apply for a portion of $25 billion dollars of “Workload Funding” which is in addition to $25 billion dollars of “Baseline Funding”.
We had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Amit Algotar, MD, PhD, MPH, FOMA, FACPM who leads a telehealth-based lifestyle weight loss clinic at Banner University Medical Center South. His innovative approach focuses on using lifestyle modifications as a primary treatment modality for managing and preventing chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even certain cancers. In this Q&A, Dr. Algotar shares the philosophy behind his work, the impact he’s seeing, and how telehealth is helping him reach more patients.
On January 17, 2025, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposed a new telemedicine regulation, entitled Special Registrations for Telemedicine and Limited State Telemedicine Registrations, that impact healthcare practitioners, telemedicine platforms, and patients. Key elements of the proposed rule include the introduction of a three-tiered special registration system, new state registration requirements for prescribing controlled substances, increased reporting and recordkeeping obligations, and updated controls on Schedule II substances. This proposed rule, once finalized and effective, will require that providers practicing via telemedicine and telemedicine platforms update their workflows accordingly.
Telehealth measurement has recently received renewed attention as healthcare organizations rapidly adopted and deployed telehealth programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic started, the need to measure utilization and its temporal variations accurately has increased as the rate and type of telehealth visits grew substantially and is now stabilizing. Measures that interact with utilization, like cost, have also not been effectively quantified to understand the financial impact of telehealth utilization variation during and since the pandemic and are only recently being rigorously assessed. This may be due to challenges accessing complete, reliable data, especially at the organizational level. As health services researchers who conduct evaluations in various areas of telehealth, these limitations restrict how health services researchers, who conduct evaluations in various areas of telehealth, define and measure telehealth among hospitals to inform accurate comparisons of utilization and care provision via telehealth.
As a geriatrician, I serve as a primary care physician for older adults. In my practice, there are patients across the continuum of medical complexity with all levels of physical and cognitive functioning. A universal theme I see in practice is that it’s hard to keep up with health, healthcare, and health insurance plans. It can be challenging for my patients to come into the office for an in-person visit. They may have to drive a long distance, their medical appointment may interfere with their routine, such as a weekly exercise class, or if they have limited mobility, leaving the house is a feat and getting into the clinic can be quite burdensome.