Congress and the Administration are currently making decisions on a post-COVID-19 health care system, and psychology’s voice on the importance of telehealth must be heard.
Join us in calling on Congress to extend and expand the current flexibilities on Medicare coverage of telehealth. Specifically, we are asking Congress to enact the following pieces of bipartisan legislation:
- The Permanency for Audio-Only Telehealth Act (H.R. 3447), introduced by Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), which would continue to allow Medicare to cover mental and behavioral health services provided via audio-only telehealth;
- The Telemental Health Care Access Act (S. 2061), introduced in by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), which would remove a requirement that Medicare beneficiaries receiving services via telehealth have been seen in person by their provider within the prior 6 months; and
- The Telemental Health Care Access Act (H.R. 4058), introduced by Reps. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), which—in addition to removing the requirement for an in-person visit described above—would extend certain Medicare coverage flexibilities to behavioral health services.
With some states already beginning to unwind some pandemic-era flexibilities, Congress needs to ensure that Medicare patients seeking mental and behavioral health care continue to benefit from the flexibility and choice of receiving care via telehealth.
Ask your Representative to cosponsor both H.R. 3447 and H.R. 4058 and ask your Senators to cosponsor S. 2061. If possible, please share an example from your personal experience of the importance of this coverage as part of your message. Editing the subject line and message text to individualize your request makes it more effective. Members of Congress are much more responsive to individualized messages than to form messages.