Letter to Congress: Benefits of Digital Technologies to Health Care
February 2, 2018
Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan, and Leader Pelosi:
Digital health technology is transforming health care. Modernizing Medicare to ensure seniors and medical providers have access to these tools is an important priority. We urge you to include a package of bipartisan, bicameral legislation in the upcoming funding bill that would add telehealth and remote patient monitoring to the basic Medicare Advantage benefit, expand Medicare coverage for telestroke, and ease the restrictions on telemedicine to treat kidney patients in their homes.
In addition to the significant body of evidence demonstrating that telehealth can reduce costs, improve outcomes and expand access to care for seniors, these provisions have already passed the Senate unanimously, and been approved by the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees. Now is the time to act to ensure that seniors are able to realize the benefits of digital technologies to manage their health care.
Thank you.