HYDE-SMITH COSPONSORS BILL TO PROTECT MEDICARE TELEHEALTH SERVICES
Backs Bipartisan Bill to Keep Vital Telehealth Available to Patients Past December Deadline
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) is now a cosponsor of bipartisan legislation to authorize permanent telehealth flexibilities under Medicare, critical legislation required to avoid a December deadline that puts telemedicine services at risk for millions of seniors in Mississippi and the nation.
The Telehealth Modernization Act (S.3967) would permanently authorize telehealth flexibilities first created during the COVID-19 pandemic but are set to expire at the end of 2024. The legislation updates coverage restrictions that have long prevented life-saving telehealth services for many of the nation’s roughly 65 million Medicare beneficiaries.
“We really must get past short-term extensions and give seniors certainty that their access to telehealth services is protected, particularly those who live in rural areas like so many of them do in Mississippi,” Hyde-Smith said. “We know telehealth works, as demonstrated by how quickly Medicare beneficiaries came to rely on telemedicine services during the pandemic.”
In response to the pandemic, Congress provided authority for temporary emergency waivers designed to ensure safe access to care for seniors and other vulnerable populations. Medicare beneficiaries and healthcare providers overwhelmingly embraced the use of telehealth, providing the basis for permanently protecting access to telehealth services, especially patients in rural communities.
At an April appropriations hearing, Hyde-Smith encouraged Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to direct the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to actively engage with Congress on telehealth policies, noting the December deadline to continue telehealth services.
“As we look at what may be the most consequential year for telehealth policy to date, we cannot overstate the urgency for Congress and CMS to act on Medicare legislative and regulatory telehealth flexibilities. Our nation’s health care systems and providers need clarity,” Hyde-Smith told Becerra.
U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) authored S.3967, which is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
The legislation is supported by the American Telemedicine Association, National Association of Community Health Centers, National Association of Rural Health Clinics, Consumer Technology Association, Health Innovation Alliance, Alliance for Connected Care, The Partnership to Advance Virtual Care, HIMSS, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, National Rural Health Association, Federation of American Hospitals, American Heart Association, National Organization for Rare Disorders, The Alliance for Aging Research, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American Society of Pediatric Nephrology, Society of General Internal Medicine, and Endocrine Society.
Hyde-Smith is also one of the primary sponsors of the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act. The CONNECT for Health Act is a comprehensive measure to make it easier for patients to connect with their doctors by expanding coverage of telehealth services through Medicare and by making permanent COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities.
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