December 7, 2020 3:37 pm Telehealth HHS Amends PREP Act to Support Practices’ Response to COVID-19 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week updated the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) to include more measures to help healthcare providers during the COVID-19 public health emergency, including those using telehealth to treat patients. There is now a limited exception to telehealth licensure in the “covered countermeasure” definition, as long as the diagnosis and treatment for the patient is directly related to the pandemic. For more details on the amendment, click here. News & Knowledge All Curi recommendations are based on current CDC criteria at the time of publication. CDC guidance for SARS-CoV-2 infection may, or may not, be adopted by state and local health departments to respond to rapidly changing local circumstances. Providers should always check with their local health department to see if the CDC’s guidance on any given topic has been modified (particularly if more restrictive) from the CDC’s recommended guidelines. Follow this link https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/healthdirectories/index.html for contact information to your state/local health department. If local recommendations vary from those of the CDC, and you are unsure what recommendations to follow, then it is safer to follow the more restrictive guidelines/recommendations.