Spotlight on the News

ATA & ATA Action Applauds Reintroducing Telehealth Legislation

The American Telemedicine Association https://www.americantelemed.org and ATA Action (https://ataaction.org) applaud the strong bipartisan support for the reintroduction of the Connect for Health Act of 2023 one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation on telehealth.

ATA Action recognizes that telehealth and virtual care have the potential to transform the healthcare delivery system by improving patient outcomes, enhancing the safety and effectiveness of care, addressing health disparities, and reducing costs. ATA Action is a registered 501c6 company and an affiliated trade organization of ATA.

The goal is to enable the CONNECT for Health Act of 2023 to expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare, make permanent COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities, improve health outcomes, and make it easier for patients to connect with their doctors.

The updated version of the CONNECT for Health Act would:

1. Permanently remove all geographic restrictions on telehealth services and expand originating sites to include the home plus other sites
2. Permanently allow health centers and rural health clinics to provide telehealth services
3. Allow more eligible healthcare professionals to utilize telehealth services
4. Remove unnecessary in person visit requirements for telemental health services
5. Allow for the waiver of telehealth restrictions during public health emergencies
6. Require more published data to learn more about how telehealth is being used, impacts of quality of care, and how it can be improved to support patients and healthcare providers

Kyle Zebley, Senior VP, Public Policy of ATA and Executive Director for ATA Action reports, "Telehealth is an issue that has consistently attracted bipartisan, bicameral support and we are very encouraged at the incredibly strong Congressional show of support. We pledge to continue to engage our members, telehealth stakeholders, and our novel Patient Voices for Telehealth Coalition members to help advance this important legislation."

Go to (https://www.schatz.senate.go/imo/media/doc/connectfor_health_act_2023pdf) for the full Senate Bill.