09/04/2025
Dear Patients,
We want to share an important update that may affect your access to telehealth services at Lavender Spectrum Health.
Recently, Washington Medicaid (Apple Health) changed how it reimburses clinics for telehealth appointments. Unfortunately, the new reimbursement rates are now significantly below the actual cost of providing care. As a small, independent practice, we cannot sustain offering unlimited telehealth appointments under this new structure.
Because of this, beginning September 15, 2025, telehealth appointments for patients with Washington Medicaid will be limited to Tuesdays. We will no longer be able to approve changing in person appointments to telehealth on the day of service unless that appointment was scheduled on a Tuesday.
We want to emphasize:
We did not want to eliminate telehealth appointments entirely. The other choice was to eliminate telehealth for WA medicaid patients entirely.
We know that many patients face barriers to in-person visits, and telehealth has been a safe, effective, and essential option for care.
We believe this reimbursement change creates unnecessary barriers to care, especially since as providers we have over five years of experience providing safe, high-quality telehealth services. If you would like to advocate for your continued access to telehealth, we encourage you to share your voice with the Washington Health Care Authority (HCA). On our website is a template letter you may use if you’d like to contact them.
Thank you for being part of our community and for trusting us with your care. We remain committed to advocating for your health and access to the services you need.
https://www.lavenderspectrumhealth.com/news-photosmver
