AMA and Other Health Care Organizations Urge Senate to Extend Telehealth Policies
In a letter to Senators last week, the American Medical Association (AMA), along with over 300 other physician, healthcare, and patient organizations, asked the Senate to extend pandemic telehealth flexibilities for at least two years following the existing statutory extension at the end of the public health emergency (PHE).
Telehealth access “has been transformational—patients now expect and often prefer telehealth as a key component of our health care system,” the organizations said in the letter addressed to Senate Majority and Minority Leaders.
When the COVID public health emergency (PHE) ends, the flexibilities and waivers allowing increased access to telehealth will persist for 151 days, and then are set to expire. The health care organizations urged the Senate to join the House in passing the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act (H.B. 4040), which would extend telehealth flexibilities for two-years and allow Congress to continue pushing for a permanent extension “that includes provisions to lift provider and patient location limitations, remove in-person requirements for telemental health, ensure continued access to clinically appropriate controlled substances without in-person requirements, and increase access to telehealth services in the commercial market.”
