<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="118" measure-type="s" measure-number="2016" measure-id="id118s2016" originChamber="SENATE" orig-publish-date="2023-06-15" update-date="2024-07-08">
        <title>CONNECT for Health Act of 2023</title>
        <summary summary-id="id118s2016v00" currentChamber="SENATE" update-date="2024-07-08">
            <action-date>2023-06-15</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in Senate</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2023&nbsp;or the CONNECT for Health Act of </strong><strong>2023</strong></p><p>This bill expands coverage of telehealth services under Medicare.</p><p>Among other provisions, the bill</p><ul><li>permanently removes geographic restrictions on originating sites (i.e., the location of the beneficiary) and allows the home of the beneficiary to serve as the originating site for all services;</li><li>permanently allows federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as the distant site (i.e., the location of the health care practitioner); and</li><li>allows the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS) to generally waive coverage restrictions during any public health emergency.</li></ul><p>Additionally, the CMS must post&nbsp;certain information about the effects of Medicare telehealth services on its website, including information about utilization, costs, and the outcome of services.&nbsp;The CMS must also (1) provide resources to health care professionals about&nbsp;the requirements for furnishing telehealth services under Medicare, including with respect to payment, patient privacy, and support for underserved populations; and (2)&nbsp;ensure certain quality measures are applied to telehealth services.<br/></p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>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.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
