Grassley, Colleagues Push to Expand Telehealth Access, Make Telehealth Flexibilities Permanent

Grassley, Colleagues Push to Expand Telehealth Access, Make Telehealth Flexibilities Permanent

Current flexibilities set to expire September 30 without congressional action

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) joined a bipartisan group of 60 senators in reintroducing the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act. The legislation will expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare, make telehealth flexibilities permanent and make it easier for patients to connect with their doctors. Current flexibilities are set to expire on September 30 unless Congress extends them.

"Again and again, Iowans have shared stories with me about their difficulties accessing medical care. Temporary telehealth policies have helped Americans across the country, especially in our rural communities. The CONNECT for Health Act will update out-of-date laws to make recent telehealth innovations permanent, empowering patients and providers," Grassley said.

The CONNECT for Health Act would:

1. Permanently remove all geographic restrictions on telehealth services and expand originating sites to the location of the patient, including homes;
2. Permanently allow health centers and rural health clinics to provide telehealth services;
3. Allow more eligible health care professionals to utilize telehealth services;
4. Remove unnecessary in-person visit requirement for telemental health services;
5. Allow for the waiver of telehealth restrictions during public health emergencies; and
6. Require more published data to learn how telehealth is being used, telehealth's impact on quality of care, and how it can be improved to support patients and health care providers.

The bill is led by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).

Additional cosponsors include Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), along with Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Angus King (I-Maine.), Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.).

The CONNECT for Health Act has the support of more than 150 organizations, including the American Medical Association, AARP, American Hospital Association, National Association of Community Health Centers, National Association of Rural Health Clinics and American Telemedicine Association.

Background:

This legislation was first introduced in 2016 and is considered the most comprehensive legislation on telehealth in Congress. Since 2016, several provisions of the bill have been enacted into law or adopted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, including provisions to remove restrictions on telehealth services for mental health, stroke care and home dialysis.

In 2020, as then-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Grassley helped make mental telehealth services a permanent benefit under Medicare.

The full text of the bill is?available here.

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