Senate Bill Aims to Solidify Medicare Coverage for Telehealth

Four US Senators have introduced a bipartisan bill that seeks to make permanent a CMS policy that temporarily expanded Medicare coverage and reimbursement for certain telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Steve Daines (R-MT) proposed the Expanded Telehealth Access Act, which would solidify Medicare reimbursement eligibility for physical and occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists.

The bill would also allow the Health and Human Services Secretary to add more specialty providers to the list.

CMS expanded telehealth reimbursement during the pandemic to increase access to healthcare while trying to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The new bill aims to make this policy permanent to ensure telehealth access and reimbursement continue after HHS lifts the public health emergency.

The Senators stressed the importance of expanding telehealth services for all individuals, but particularly those living in rural areas who may struggle to access in-person care.

“Particularly in our rural communities, telehealth is no longer just an innovative option for accessing services, it has become a vital lifeline to care,” Daines stated in a press release. “After the public health emergency ends, we need to ensure Montanans continue to have access to the telehealth services that they’ve come to rely on and are so important for maintaining the health of our communities and seniors.”

In addition to co-sponsoring the Expanded Telehealth Access Act, Daines serves as the ranking member of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the growing use of telehealth services in Nevada and across the country, and this is especially important in our state’s rural and underserved areas where it’s already much harder to access in-person care,” Rosen said in a statement.

In June 2021, Rosen and other senators introduced the bipartisan Rural and Frontier Telehealth Expansion Act to increase federal funding for telehealth services in frontier states and states with limited broadband access if those states allow Medicaid coverage.

The Expanded Telehealth Access Act is backed by several notable healthcare organizations including the American Telehealth Association, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the eHealth Initiative and Foundation, the Alliance for Connected Care, and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Inc. (HIMSS).

“The use of telehealth during the pandemic has helped ensure patient access to physical therapist services, minimize potential exposure to the virus, and provided an option for therapy clinics and their patients during quarantine,” Sharon Dunn, president of APTA, said in a statement.

“And it’s made it all the more clear just how valuable telehealth is to patients who may need alternative access to therapy. It is critical that Congress make this option for therapy services permanent for Medicare patients, beyond the public health emergency.”

Companion legislation for the bill was introduced by House Representatives Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and David McKinley (R-WV) in November 2020. The bill did not make it through Congress, and the lawmakers resubmitted the bill in March 2021.