The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing titled “COVID-19 Health Care Flexibilities: Perspectives, Experiences, and Lessons Learned,” in which some senators, including Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, signaled their support for permanently lifting a number of telehealth restrictions under Medicare. NRHA supports maintaining the telehealth flexibilities that were created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and expanding the authority of the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth within HHS to include the ability to advise the Secretary on telehealth issues, create and staff an HHS Telehealth Advisory Committee, and administer grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. The support for making permanent Medicare telehealth flexibilities echoed in the hearing suggests this is a priority the Senate is interested in advancing.
