118 SRES 368 ATS: Supporting the designation of the week of September 17 through September 23, 2023, as “Telehealth Awareness Week”. U.S. Senate 2023-09-26 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.

III118th CONGRESS1st SessionS. RES. 368IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESSeptember 26 (legislative day, September 22), 2023Mr. Schatz (for himself, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Thune, Mr. Warner, and Mrs. Hyde-Smith) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed toRESOLUTIONSupporting the designation of the week of September 17 through September 23, 2023, as Telehealth Awareness Week.

Whereas telehealth allows a health care practitioner to furnish health care to a patient or a practitioner at a different physical location than the health care practitioner;Whereas telehealth played a significant role in supporting access to quality health care for millions of patients during the COVID–19 public health emergency and continues to be important beyond the end of the public health emergency;Whereas Medicare beneficiaries used 88 times more telehealth services during the first year of the COVID–19 pandemic than they did in the prior year;Whereas more than 8,000,000 unique Medicare beneficiaries received at least 1 telehealth service in 2022;Whereas, in 2022, over 90 percent of Medicare beneficiaries who received a telehealth service were satisfied with their experience;Whereas, in 2022, telehealth was a routine health care modality with 15 percent of Medicare beneficiaries using telehealth in the last quarter of the calendar year; Whereas, following the unprecedented use of telehealth services in response to the public health emergency, telehealth now represents a critical component of health care delivery;Whereas legislative efforts to increase telehealth access have received bipartisan support in the Senate and the House of Representatives;Whereas the United States has an opportunity to help improve access to health care for all individuals, including members of rural and underserved communities; andWhereas Telehealth Awareness Week unites the efforts of patients, caregivers, health care providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to advance the role of telehealth in health care: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate— (1)designates the week of September 17 through September 23, 2023, as Telehealth Awareness Week;(2)recognizes the impact of telehealth in delivering health care for patients across the United States; and(3)urges that steps should be taken to—(A)raise awareness about the benefits of telehealth;(B)highlight resources for health care providers and patients regarding telehealth;(C)collect and analyze data on the impacts of telehealth; and(D)promote continued access to telehealth for all communities and across settings.