[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14610-14611]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               ECHO BILL

  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I come to the floor to express my support 
for the ECHO Act, which the Senate will be voting on in approximately 1 
hour.
  This represents bipartisan work--another bipartisan achievement 
during this very productive term of Congress. In this case it is 
Senators Hatch and Schatz who have led us to this morning's vote.
  The ECHO Act is named after Project ECHO, an innovative telehealth-
inspired model originally conceived at the University of New Mexico. 
Project ECHO has created promising opportunities for primary care 
clinicians to receive high-quality specialty training remotely. In this 
way, the most remote patient in the most underserved area can receive 
specialized care by his hometown doctor or provider.
  I am a longtime supporter of using technology and telehealth to 
improve patients' access to quality care.
  New Mexico is a State with many rural areas, as is my State of 
Mississippi. For that reason, Mississippi and New Mexico have had to be 
leaders in innovative health care models for years, such as Project 
ECHO in New Mexico and the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 
Jackson, MS.
  At UMMC we are national leaders in providing technology-enabled care 
remotely. While ECHO emphasizes training among professionals, the 
University of Mississippi Medical Center has used remote technology for 
clinical care and patient monitoring.
  Since 2003, the medical center in Jackson has reached more than one-
half million rural Mississippians through the use of telehealth. To 
date, the program includes more than 30 specialties and can reach 
patients at more than 200 clinical sites.
  Like Senator Hatch, I have reached across the aisle to work with our 
friend from Hawaii, Senator Schatz, to expand an innovative model for 
the rest of the country. Specifically, I worked this year with Senator 
Schatz on the CONNECT for Health Act, which has

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been endorsed by nearly 100 organizations. Like CONNECT, the ECHO Act 
aims at taking a proven approach to technology-enabled care and 
bringing it to underserved populations across the country.
  The CONNECT for Health Act, which is S. 2484, would be a small but 
significant step toward payment parity for telehealth services under 
the Medicare Program. In addition to removing specific barriers to 
telemedicine, the bill would allow for coverage of certain remote 
patient monitoring services for patients with multiple chronic 
diseases.
  Remote patient monitoring is a model the University of Mississippi 
Medical Center has used to expand access, improve quality, and reduce 
hospital admissions for some of our State's most underserved 
populations.
  So I want to thank Senator Schatz for his leadership on CONNECT for 
Health and also ECHO, which again we will be voting on in just a few 
moments. I extend my utmost appreciation to Senator Schatz and to 
Senator Hatch and the Committee on Finance for including policies 
inspired by our CONNECT for Health Act in the bipartisan chronic care 
outline.
  I am confident proposals to advance telehealth can improve access and 
cut costs, and I look forward to seeing CONNECT enacted also, but today 
I am pleased and thrilled we are taking an important step forward with 
the passage of the ECHO Act.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 
15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Cardin pertaining to the submission of S. Con. 
Res. 56 are printed in today's Record under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

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