On Wednesday, Rep. Jack Bergman voted in favor of bipartisan legislation to expand access to telemedicine. H.R. 4040, the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act, will extend telehealth flexibilities in Medicare that were initially authorized at the start of the pandemic.
This includes allowing beneficiaries to receive telehealth services at any site regardless of type or location, the use of audio-only evaluations and behavioral health services when video is unavailable, allowing telemedicine to be used to recertify eligibility for hospice care, and allowing rural health clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers to provide telehealth services.
Rep. Bergman stated, “The past several years have shown the tremendous value of telehealth – especially for rural and remote areas like Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Not only has it allowed patients to safely see their medical providers during the public health emergency, it also helped thousands of Michiganders avoid multi-hour round trips just for routine care or a short conversation with their doctor. Combined with our efforts to support rural broadband deployment throughout the region, continued telehealth coverage will play a critical role in supporting healthy patients and communities well into the future. I’m proud to support this bipartisan legislation to improve access to rural health care.”
Since coming to Congress, Rep. Bergman has been a strong proponent of improving access to telehealth.
In addition to supporting H.R. 4040, he is a cosponsor of H.R. 2903, the CONNECT for Health Act of 2021, which similarly expands coverage of telehealth under Medicare and makes it easier for more patients and more providers to utilize telemedicine. He also cosponsored H.R. 1677, the KEEP Telehealth Options Act of 2021, which directs the federal government to study the benefits created by expanding telehealth coverage during the public health emergency and report to Congress on how access to telemedicine can be further improved.
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