Bipartisan letter signed urging expansion of access to telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen, a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), joined a bipartisan letter led by Senators Brian Schatz and Roger Wicker to Senate Leadership urging them to make permanent the provisions from the CONNECT for Health Act that were included in the CARES Act to expand access to telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries during the pandemic.

Last December, Rosen announced her co-sponsorship of the CONNECT for Health Act, bipartisan legislation that would expand the use of telehealth and remote patient monitoring services in order to provide cost savings and quality care.

“We have long advocated for increasing access to telehealth because of its potential to expand access to health care, reduce costs, and improve health outcomes. Telehealth has proven to be pivotal for many patients during the current pandemic, ensuring they receive the care they need while reducing the risk of infection and the further spread of COVID-19. We have all heard from our constituents about how effective and convenient it is. Expanded Medicare coverage of telehealth services on a permanent basis—where clinically appropriate and with appropriate guardrails and beneficiary protections in place—would ensure that telehealth continues to be an option for all Medicare beneficiaries after the pandemic ends,” wrote the Senators.

“Americans have benefited significantly from this expansion of telehealth and have come to rely on its availability. Congress should expand access to telehealth services on a permanent basis so that telehealth remains an option for all Medicare beneficiaries both now and after the pandemic. Doing so would assure patients that their care will not be interrupted when the pandemic ends. It would also provide certainty to health care providers that the costs to prepare for and use telehealth would be a sound long-term investment,” continued the Senators.