The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on “Telehealth: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” to examine changes made to insurance payments and effectiveness of waivers granted for telehealth due to COVID-19. An expert panel provided testimony on how telehealth has been crucial for safe medical care and the necessity of waivers to become permanent. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) asked the witnesses how Congress can help to prepare the current and future workforce on utilizing telehealth and what resources, such as funding, education, and Internet access, are needed to achieve this. Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) expressed hesitation in mandating reciprocity agreements between states for healthcare provider licenses but would rather encourage states to participate in these agreements.
Full memo available here.