Maine's senators join push for extending federal telehealth coverage
File photo / Courtesy, Maine Medical Partners
Maine's two U.S. senators are supporting an extension of telehealth benefits beyond the pandemic. Seen here on a computer screen, as patients might see her, is Dr. Megan Selvitelli of Maine Medical Partners Neurology.
Maine's two U.S. senators have joined a bipartisan call for making access to telehealth services permanent, even after the pandemic ends.
The request relates to provisions in the federal CONNECT for Health Act that have allowed people receiving Medicare to use telehealth for virtual doctor's visits and other services from their homes, and providers to offer those services, that were included in previous COVID-19 legislation.
Unless those provisions are extended, they will expire when the pandemic ends unless Congress acts now to make those measures permanent, a Dec. 4 letter said. The letter was signed by 49 lawmakers including U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine.
The two-page letter is addressed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
"Telehealth has been a critical tool during the COVID-19 pandemic in ensuring that patients can continue to receive the health care services that they need while minimizing the spread of the virus and keeping health care providers and patients healthy and safe,” they write.
“We continue to hear from our constituents and health care providers that the uncertainty about the long-term future of Medicare telehealth coverage is a barrier to organizations investing fully in telehealth. Congress needs to act now to better serve patients and health care providers during the pandemic, and to ensure that telehealth remains an option after the pandemic is over.”
It concludes, "Telehealth is an area of strong bipartisan support, and Congress can, and should, act now to lead the way in ensuring expanded access to telehealth. We appreciate your collaboration on this important issue."
'Anything but a fad'
King has been a vocal proponent of expanding broadband access in part to expand access to telehealth services, telling Mainebiz in September that they are "anything but a fad" and a "real shift in the way that Americans access health care with enormous benefits for Maine patients and businesses."
"We should make sure [telehealth] continues beyond the crisis," he said at that time.
Companies in Maine's telehealth sector include Boxborough, Mass.-based Senscio Sytems, which has been working with Avesta Housing in Portland, and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, which has seen a dramatic jump in telehealth usage in the four New England states it serves during COVID.
Mainebiz is also hosting a virtual health care forum on telemedicine this Thursday, for which registration is free but required.
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