Bipartisan legislation to expand telehealth services through Medicare, improve health outcomes and reduce costs was introduced on Wednesday by U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Ben Cardin (D-MD), John Thune (R-SD) and Mark Warner (D-VA).
The Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act, S. 2484, would expand telehealth services through Medicare, improve care outcomes, make connecting to health care providers easier for patients, and help cut costs for patients and providers.
“Mississippi has long been on the cutting edge of health-care technologies,” Wicker said. “Connecting people with medical professionals through telehealth and remote patient monitoring provides quality and timely care, helps seniors manage their health, and delivers cost savings. This bill seeks to replicate the success that we have made in Mississippi using this technology for patients across the country.”
Telehealth is the use of telecommunications technologies, including live video interactions and asynchronous medical data transfers, to provide health care services, while remote patient monitoring (RPM) is the electronic transfer of personal medical data from one provider to another. Telehealth and RPM, according to studies, improve care and patient satisfaction and reduce hospitalizations.
The CONNECT for Health Act would create a program to increase the use of telehealth and RPM through Medicare in order to aid providers in meeting the goals of both the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act and the Merit-based Inventive Payment System. It would also expand RPM access for certain patients with chronic conditions, increase such services in community health centers and rural health clinics, and make the services basic benefits in Medicare Advantage.