Today URAC joined 225 of the nation’s leading health care organizations to send a letter to the House Telehealth Caucus leaders Representatives Thompson, Welch, Matsui, Schweikert, and Johnson endorsing the Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act of 2020 (HR 7663).
This legislation includes the following major provisions:
• Removing arbitrary geographic restrictions on where a patient must be located in order to utilize
telehealth services;
• Enabling patients to continue to receive telehealth services in their homes;
• Ensuring federally qualified health centers and rural health centers can furnish telehealth services; and
• Establishing permanent waiver authority for the Secretary of Health & Human Services during future emergency periods and for 90 days after the expiration of a public health emergency period.
COVID-19 has given us an unprecedented opportunity to increase the utilization of telehealth and digital health technology. It is imperative to establish quality standards for successfully removing dated and restrictive policies regarding the usage of these technologies. We believe HR 7663 is an important step to ensure that telehealth and digital health technology continue to play a vital role in improving our health care system beyond the current health emergency.
Learn more about URAC’s Telehealth Accreditation