Spanberger Backs Bipartisan, Bicameral Legislation to Expand Access to Telehealth Services for Seniors, Lower Healthcare Costs for Central Virginia Medicare Recipients Amid COVID-19

Statement

U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger today announced her support for a bipartisan bill to expand access to critical telehealth services for Central Virginia Medicare recipients.

Medicare continues to lag behind private payers, other federal health programs, and states in adapting its payment methodologies to include telehealth capabilities. For example, patients' homes are not classified under current Medicare regulations as eligible originating sites for healthcare services, so Medicare cannot pay for telehealth services if a patient is at their home.

To reform Medicare's outdated restrictions on telehealth reimbursements, Spanberger cosponsored the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act, which would eliminate barriers to Medicare beneficiaries' access to telehealth. Additionally, the legislation would allow appropriate mental health and emergency care services to be delivered through telehealth, improve the process of adding telehealth to approved services lists, and add Rural Health Clinics and Federally-Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to the list of approved telehealth sites.

"In a period marked by tremendous uncertainty for both patients and providers, we need to focus on building additional avenues for our healthcare professionals to deliver timely, high-quality care to the individuals who need it most. Congress is long overdue to modernize Medicare's reimbursement policies, and commonsense changes to the program's existing telehealth requirements have the opportunity to both lower costs for Central Virginia seniors and keep healthcare workers safe during the coronavirus pandemic," said Spanberger. "My support for the CONNECT for Health Act comes at a time when we see tremendous advancements and innovation in the field of telehealth. By allowing Medicare beneficiaries to receive greater access to routine care at their homes, we are using this technological advantage to lower costs, lower risk, and make seeing the doctor easier for Central Virginia's seniors."

The CONNECT for Health Act builds on the progress made in recent years to increase the use of telehealth through Medicare. Specifically, the CONNECT for Health Act would:

Allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive telehealth restrictions if the waiver would not limit the coverage of beneficiaries and would reduce spending,
Expand telehealth for mental health services by including the home as an originating site, similar to enacted language affecting telestroke, home dialysis, and substance use disorder services,
Remove restrictions on FQHCs and Rural Health Clinics that currently prevent them from serving as distant sites for purposes of providing telehealth services,
Encourage the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test telehealth reimbursement models.
The CONNECT for Health Act is led in the U.S. House by U.S. Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA-05), Peter Welch (D-VT-AL), Bill Johnson (R-OH-06), and David Schweikert (R-AZ-06). A companion bill is led in the U.S. Senate by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS).

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