119 S1261 IS: Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2025 U.S. Senate 2025-04-02 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

II119th CONGRESS1st SessionS. 1261IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESApril 2, 2025Mr. Schatz (for himself, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Warner, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Welch, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Thune, Ms. Smith, Mr. Lankford, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Tuberville, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Cotton, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Fetterman, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Cramer, Mrs. Shaheen, Mrs. Britt, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Moran, Mr. Luján, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Tillis, Mr. King, Mr. Justice, Mr. Coons, Mr. Schmitt, Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Murkowski, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Booker, Mr. Grassley, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Kelly, Mrs. Fischer, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Young, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Collins, Mr. Peters, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Warren, Mr. Graham, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Daines, Mr. Warnock, and Mr. Boozman) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on FinanceA BILLTo amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand access to telehealth services, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2025 or the CONNECT for Health Act of 2025.(b)

Table of contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows:Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.Sec. 2. Findings and sense of Congress.TITLE I—Removing barriers to telehealth coverageSec. 101. Removing geographic requirements for telehealth services.Sec. 102. Expanding originating sites.Sec. 103. Expanding authority for practitioners eligible to furnish telehealth services.Sec. 104. Federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics.Sec. 105. Native American health facilities.Sec. 106. Repeal of six-month in-person visit requirement for telemental health services.Sec. 107. Waiver of telehealth requirements during public health emergencies.Sec. 108. Use of telehealth in recertification for hospice care.TITLE II—Program integritySec. 201. Clarification for fraud and abuse laws regarding technologies provided to beneficiaries.Sec. 202. Additional resources for telehealth oversight.Sec. 203. Addressing significant outlier billing patterns for telehealth services.TITLE III—Beneficiary and provider supports, quality of care, and dataSec. 301. Beneficiary engagement on telehealth.Sec. 302. Provider supports on telehealth.Sec. 303. Ensuring the inclusion of telehealth in measuring quality of care.Sec. 304. Posting of information on telehealth services.

2.

Findings and sense of Congress

(a)

Findings

Congress finds the following:(1)The use of technology in health care and coverage of telehealth services are rapidly evolving.(2)Research has found that telehealth services can expand access to care, improve the quality of care, and reduce spending.(3)In 2023, 90 percent of patients receiving telehealth services were satisfied with their experiences.(4)Health care workforce shortages are a significant problem in many areas and for many types of health care clinicians.(5)Telehealth increases access to care in areas with workforce shortages and for individuals who live far away from health care facilities, have limited mobility or transportation, or have other barriers to accessing care.(6)The use of health technologies can strengthen the expertise of the health care workforce, including by connecting clinicians to specialty consultations.(7)Prior to the COVID–19 pandemic, the utilization of telehealth services in the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) was low, accounting for 0.1 percent of Medicare Part B visits in 2019.(8)Telehealth now represents a critical component of care delivery. In 2023, 24 percent of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries received a telehealth service.(9)Long-term certainty about coverage of telehealth services under the Medicare program is necessary to fully realize the benefits of telehealth.(b)

Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that—(1)health care providers can furnish safe, effective, and high-quality health care services through telehealth;(2)the Secretary of Health and Human Services should promptly take all necessary measures to ensure that providers and beneficiaries can continue to furnish and utilize, respectively, telehealth services in the Medicare program, and support recent modifications to the definition of interactive telecommunications system in regulations and program instruction under the Medicare program to ensure that providers can utilize all appropriate means and types of technology, including audio-visual, audio-only, and other types of technologies, to furnish telehealth services; and (3)barriers to the use of telehealth should be removed.