By Eric Wicklund, mHealth Intelligence | March 21, 2019

With telehealth and telemedicine bills scattered across Capitol Hill like cherry blossoms in the springtime sun, a group of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle is looking to help Congress develop a cohesive connected health strategy.

The Congressional Telehealth Caucus issued a letter earlier this month asking for “suggestions, recommendations or relevant experiences” as the group looks to craft comprehensive telehealth legislation for the 116th Congress.

The letter, first reported by the Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law, seeks recommendations from healthcare providers and other stakeholders that would:

  • Expand access to telehealth and remote patient monitoring, particularly in rural or underserved parts of the country;
  • Improve patient outcomes through access to specialists or other healthcare consults or by improving the patient’s daily care;
  • Encouraging more and better use of existing telemedicine resources; or
  • Reducing healthcare costs for both patients and government programs such as Medicare.

The caucus, launched in May of 2017, has been the driving force behind a number of telehealth and telemedicine bills in the past three years, most notably the CONNECT (Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health) Act of 2017, parts of which were molded into last year’s Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.

“We look to build on these successes during the 116th Congress,” said the letter. It further notes that the group is seeking “recommendations on policy areas most likely to prompt Congressional action, including ideas that are fiscally responsible and able to generate bipartisan support.”

The caucus is asking for recommendations by April 1, to be sent to [email protected].

The caucus consists of Congressmen Mike Thompson (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT), David Schweikert (R-AZ) and Bill Johnson (R-OH) and Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI, Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Thune (R-SD), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS).

Original Article