Morris Leader

Washington, DC — Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) is fighting to protect access to telehealth services alongside Rep. Diana Harshbarger (TN-01) and a bipartisan group of their colleagues with the reintroduction of the Expanded Telehealth Access Act. 

“The use of telehealth services during the pandemic demonstrated the pivotal role technology can play in improving health equity. For vulnerable populations, especially those with compromised immune systems or in areas far from a provider, this type of access to health care can be a lifeline,” said Rep. Sherrill. “While the public health emergency is over, the need for telehealth services is not. With this legislation, we are protecting Medicare recipients by ensuring these essential services are covered by their health insurance.”

“The rapid adoption of telehealth for Medicare beneficiaries during the Covid pandemic enabled patients to continue therapy and other treatments they otherwise might not have access to,” said Congresswoman Harshbarger. “It is critical that Congress acts to allow seniors to continue such services permanently after special waivers expire in 2024. This is especially important for people living in rural and underserved areas, where a trip to seek specific treatments may entail a long journey. The Expanded Telehealth Access Act will enable seniors to continue receiving quality, accessible care, delivered in the most efficient way possible.” 

During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, CMS waived requirements that specify the types of practitioners that may bill for their services when furnished as Medicare telehealth services. Though the Public Health Emergency came to an end on May 11th of this year, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 extended many of these telehealth waivers through the end of 2024.

This legislation would waive these requirements and expand the types of health care professionals that may furnish telehealth services to include all those that are eligible to bill Medicare for their professional services. As a result, a broader range of practitioners providing telehealth services––including physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists—can offer telehealth services to Medicare patients. 

This legislation is supported by national healthcare organizations, such as the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the Alliance for Connected Care (ACC), American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and the Consumer Technology Association. 

“Occupational therapy has long recognized the critical role environment plays in health and wellness, including the virtual environment.  Waivers issued by CMS authorizing occupational therapy professionals to provide services to Medicare beneficiaries via telehealth illuminated the substantial impact occupational therapy can provide through the virtual environment.  Not only did the waivers provide an opportunity for Medicare beneficiaries to receive effective occupational therapy intervention in new environments, but occupational therapy was able to actualize the use of telehealth to reduce or remove barriers to care,” said AOTA President Alyson Stover, MOT, JD, OTR/L, BCP. “AOTA champions the bipartisan efforts of Representatives Sherrill and Harshbarger to ensure that the provision of occupational therapy delivered via telehealth will remain an option for Medicare beneficiaries on a permanent basis.” 

“The use of telehealth during the pandemic helped ensure patient access to physical therapist services and provided an option for therapy clinics and their patients,” said APTA President Roger Herr, PT, MPA.  “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. We applaud Representatives Sherrill and Harshbarger for their leadership on this important bipartisan legislation.”   

“Physical therapists, audiologists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists are critical providers for seniors, and an important part of whole-person care,” said ACC Executive Director Krista Drobac. “The Alliance strongly supports changes to distant site provider list restrictions to allow for all Medicare providers to deliver telehealth services, when clinically appropriate, to beneficiaries through telehealth. We applaud Reps. Sherrill and Harshbarger for reintroducing this critical legislation.”

“The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association applauds Representatives Sherrill and Harshbarger for reintroducing this critical legislation, and for their continued efforts to ensure that America’s seniors maintain robust access to needed audiology and speech-language pathology care for hearing, balance, speech and language, swallowing, and cognitive-communication disorders through telehealth services,” said 2023 ASHA President Robert M. Augustine, PhD, CCC-SLP.

Alongside Reps. Sherrill and Harshbarger, original co-sponsors of this legislation include Reps. Lisa Blunt-Rochester (DE-At-large), David Valadao (CA-22), André Carson (IN-07), Jen Kiggans (VA-02), Mark Pocan (WI-02), GT Thompson (PA-15), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Tracey Mann (KS-01), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Don Bacon (NE-02), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03), Susan Wild (PA-07), Greg Stanton (AZ-04), Colin Allred (TX-32), and Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05).

Original source can be found here