The Biden administration unveiled a new plan on Tuesday to improve the nation’s understanding of long COVID and to better prevent, detect, and treat the condition, particularly in hard-hit communities.
“Long COVID is real, and there is still so much we don’t know about it,” said Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra during a White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing.
Millions of Americans may be affected by lingering symptoms of an acute COVID-19 infection, with symptoms ranging from labored breathing to an irregular heartbeat to serious neurological symptoms or mental health problems.
HHS will lead a government-wide response to long COVID, Becerra said, with a new research agenda focused on three core goals: improving care, enhancing outreach and education, and advancing research. HHS will oversee the development of an interagency National Research Action Plan on Long COVID, with input from the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration, among other government entities, as well as from public and private efforts focused on long COVID.
In addition to establishing an action plan, President Biden issued a memorandum that calls on the HHS Secretary to publish a report that would steer people with long COVID to services available from various federal agencies, as well as those experiencing a COVID-related loss and those dealing with pandemic-related mental health and substance use problems, with particular attention to “high-risk communities.”
Tuesday’s announcement and memorandum stem in part from recommendations of the Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. Other efforts by the administration to address long COVID detailed in a White House fact sheet included the following:
- Establishing “Centers of Excellence” and evidence-based care models to investigate how best to deliver care to people with long COVID
- Increasing the number and quality of long COVID clinics as well as “robust referral and follow-up systems”; currently, the Department of Veterans Affairs has long COVID care programs at 18 of its facilities
- Promoting provider education and clinical support to help improve, detect, and understand long COVID and related conditions through culturally competent resources
- Ensuring that health insurance coverage for long COVID care is “as accessible as possible”; care for long COVID is required by state Medicaid programs, and Medicare recently expanded coverage for pulmonary rehabilitation services related to long COVID in the 2022 Physician Fee Schedule
- Increasing public awareness of long COVID as a possible cause of disability covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act
Research Action Plan, Provider Education
President Biden’s FY 2023 budget includes $20 million for the first year of a multi-year initiative around the national research action plan, earmarked for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
In addition to $50 million invested by the CDC in long COVID research, the President’s FY 2023 budget also requests $25 million to pursue research and surveillance that aim to answer critical questions regarding “risk factors, underlying mechanisms and health impacts of long COVID,” leveraging clinician participation, electronic health data, and grant funding. The CDC’s Innovative Support for Patients With SARS-CoV-2 Infections Registry (INSPIRE) will also aid in these efforts.
With regard to improving providers’ knowledge, the Health Resources and Services Administration will create “sustainable telementoring programs and networks” in rural and under-served communities to help ensure high-quality care in these areas. HHS will also look to bring together experts across the country to establish best practices in the identification and management of mental and behavioral disorders linked to long COVID.
The administration will also provide “targeted clinician and medical coder education” centered around the ICD-10-CM code issued last year to help diagnose, track, and bill for long COVID.
Ensuring Health Insurance Coverage, Other Resources
Already, under the American Rescue Plan, state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs are required to cover treatment for COVID-19, and states must also cover treatments and therapies for long COVID.
While the Affordable Care Acts’ essential benefits “generally provide coverage” for diagnosing and treating long COVID, the “cost-sharing details vary by plan,” noted the White House press release. “Moving forward, the administration will continue to assess opportunities to enhance access to care for long COVID and its associated symptoms through Medicare, Medicaid, insurance marketplace coverage, and other options.”
The administration will also help to connect individuals with long COVID with resources and support, including by the CDC-INFO call center and other call centers overseen by CMS, and by connecting older adults and people with disabilities to transportation so they may receive care through the Administration for Community Living’s DIAL and Eldercare Locator.
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