Advocates say federal rule delays on telemedicine access have real effects on Arizona veterans

One of the Trump administration’s earliest orders after returning to office was to put up all pending federal rules for review. That includes two rules by the DEA and Department of Health and Human Services that would have opened up more medications VA doctors can prescribe to veterans remotely.

Jacob Thomas with Common Defense said Arizona has one of the biggest concentrations of veterans they serve nationwide.

“When we think about how we are helping our veterans through telehealth work,” said Thomas, “there's no reason for any of this other than for the cruelty of it to try and cut the services and the resources that veterans have relied on for so long.”

An Air Force veteran himself, he said access to telemedicine is especially important for veterans in rural areas or who have trouble leaving their home

“VA facilities are not McDonald's, they're not Starbucks on every corner, right? So ensuring that we can have access to them, even if we are not in the exact city where that facility is, is extremely important,” said Thomas.

Thomas said the delay of rules like these — especially for medicine like buprenorphine, which is often used to help treat opioid use disorder — are huge.

“There are now veterans who could have had access to this through telehealth medicine that are now no longer able to get those resources,” he said. “And that is unacceptable.”

Thomas said it signals a pattern in the current administration’s focus that he hopes to see change soon.