What's ahead for health IT policy and legislation in 2023

The government relations team at HIMSS offers some insights on what's next for telehealth, broadband expansion, interoperability rules and more in the year ahead. HIMSS claims it is now prepared to argue for permanent coverage of virtual care because Congress included telehealth waivers in its omnibus budget package at the end of 2022, delaying the "telehealth cliff" for two years. Its policy agenda for the coming year also includes promoting data standardisation, providing feedback on interoperability rulemaking, and collaborating with agencies and states to broaden access to telehealth. In order to get their opinions on these issues and others for 2023 and beyond, we spoke with the HIMSS government relations team. HIMSS has prioritised telehealth because it has been shown to ease the strain on healthcare professionals and increase access; nevertheless, the Congressional Budget Office has long argued that all telehealth programmes are not equal.