Connected Care Update

Rural Patient Monitoring Access Act

The Alliance for Connected Care applauds Sens. Blackburn (R-TN), Warner (D-VA), and Reps. Kustoff (R-TN), Pocan (D-WI), Balderson (R-OH), and Davis (D-NC) on the introduction of the Rural Patient Monitoring (RPM) Access Act, which would ensure Medicare patients in rural and underserved communities have access to remote physiologic monitoring services, which lower costs and improve access to care by using technology to collect and transmit patient health data to health care providers.

Alliance News

Alliance Outlines Policy Requests to Dr. Oz, CMS (4/3) - The Alliance submitted a letter to Dr. Mehmet Oz, highlighting a list of “shovel-ready” regulatory issues that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) either has the authority to act on without Congressional action or that would benefit from CMS subject matter expertise. Additional coverage can be found in Healthcare Finance, Fierce Healthcare, and MedCity News.

Alliance Coleads 300 Stakeholder Letter to Congressional Leaders (2/24) - The Alliance coled a letter, signed by 350 groups urging Congressional leadership to take action in March to establish permanent or long-term access to telehealth. The group letter was highlighted in in Inside Telehealth and Fierce Healthcare. The Alliance led this letter when the congressional landscape did not look promising as Congress had not yet come together on a plan to fund the federal government and extend telehealth access in March.

Alliance Leads Over 150 Stakeholders in Letter to Attorney General (2/20) - The Alliance sent a letter, signed by more than 150 organizations, to the Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting her leadership in maintaining the access to telehealth that President Trump initiated during his first term. News coverage can be found in Modern Healthcare, Inside Telehealth, MedCity News, Becker’s Behavioral Health, and TechTarget.

Alliance Submits Statement for the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Hearing on Modernizing American Health Care (2/11) - The Alliance submitted a statement for the record, highlighting telehealth. In particular, the Alliance urges Congress to act quickly to restore telehealth access lost in December and avert a loss of access to Medicare telehealth in March.

Alliance Statement on DEA Special Registration Proposal (1/15) - The Alliance for Connected Care appreciates the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) forward movement on telemedicine prescribing of controlled substances policy. However, the Alliance remains concerned to see language in the proposed rulemaking mandating what portion of patient care can be offered through telemedicine, as this is not an appropriate guardrail for a telehealth service. The Alliance’s statement on the rule was highlighted in Healthcare Brew, MedPage Today, Healthcare IT News, Stat News, Healthcare Dive, Modern Healthcare, Fortune Well and others.

On March 8, House Speaker Johnson (R-LA) released text of legislation to fund the federal government until September 30, 2025. 

The package included an extension of Medicare telehealth and acute hospital care at home until September 30, 2025. 

Medicare Telehealth Provisions Extended Until September 30, 2025

• Removing geographic requirements and expanding originating sites for telehealth services
• Expanding practitioners eligible to furnish telehealth services
• Extending telehealth services for federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics
• Delaying in-person requirements under Medicare for mental health services furnished through telehealth and telecommunications technology
• Extending use of telehealth to conduct face-to-face encounter prior to recertification of eligibility for hospice care

WHAT'S NEXT? We are presented with another deadline in September. The Alliance is advocating for a longer-term fix to ensure patients and providers have the certainty in their access to health care via telehealth.

Congress

Alliance Endorsed Bills - The Alliance recently endorsed two new bills:

• The CONNECT for Health Act of 2025, which has long been the flagship telehealth legislation of the Senate Telehealth working group and House Telehealth Caucus.
• The States Handling Access to Reciprocity for Employment (SHARE) Act, which would improve interstate health care workforce licensing and improve access to care across America by cutting through red tape.
• The Rural Patient Monitoring Access Act (S. 1535/H.R. 3108), which would ensure high-quality remote physiologic monitoring services for Medicare beneficiaries. 

Sen. Schatz (D-HI): Introduction of the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technology (CONNECT) for Health Act (4/3) – Sens. Schatz (D-HI), Wicker (R-MS), Warner (D-VA), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Welch (D-VT), and Barrasso (R-WY) led a bipartisan group of 60 senators in in reintroducing the CONNECT for Health Act, which would make permanent expanded telehealth provisions.

Rep. Arrington (R-TX): Introduction of the Ensuring Access to Specialty Care Everywhere (EASE) Act (4/3) – Rep. Arington (R-TX) introduced the Ensuring Access to Specialty Care Everywhere (EASE) Act (H.R. 2533), which would increase rural access to specialty care providers by authorizing the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to create a virtual specialty care provider network that rural patients can access through telehealth.

Sen. Schatz (D-HI): Introduction of the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technology (CONNECT) for Health Act (4/3) – Sens. Schatz (D-HI), Wicker (R-MS), Warner (D-VA), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Welch (D-VT), and Barrasso (R-WY) led a bipartisan group of 60 senators in in reintroducing the CONNECT for Health Act, which would make permanent expanded telehealth provisions.

Sen. Blackburn (R-TN): Introduction of the States Handling Access to Reciprocity for Employment (SHARE) Act (3/28) – Sens. Blackburn (R-TN), Welch (D-VT), and King (I-ME) introduced the States Handling Access to Reciprocity for Employment (SHARE) Act (H.R. 2332/S. 1101), which would authorize the use of Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history record information for administration of certain licenses. Many of these interstate compacts (or legislatively enacted agreements between states) face a roadblock, as some state regulatory agencies have been denied, or had their authorization revoked, to obtain FBI criminal background checks for verification of a licensee’s eligibility. The legislation ensures criminal history record information is maintained in the same manner as requests for all occupational licenses handled at the state level. 

Rep. Balderson (R-OH): Introduction of the Remote Opioid Monitoring Act of 2025 (3/27) – Reps. Balderson (R-OH) and Kelly (D-IL) introduced the Remote Opioid Monitoring Act (H.R. 2404), which would provide for a study on the effects of remote monitoring on individuals who are prescribed opioids. Improving prescription monitoring has been identified by experts as a key component in the fight against the opioid epidemic. Detecting troubling signs during a prescription regimen allows health care providers to intervene early. Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) and seven bipartisan cosponsors introduced the companion legislation in the Senate (S. 702).

Rep. Buchanan (R-FL): Introduction of the Permanent Telehealth from Home Act (H.R. 1407) (2/18) - On February 18, Reps. Buchanan (R-FL), Miller (R-OH), and Thompson (D-CA) introduced the Permanent Telehealth from Home Act (H.R. 1407), which would remove geographic requirements and expand originating sites for telehealth services under the Medicare program.

House Ways & Means Committee: Health Subcommittee Hearing on Modernizing American Health Care: Creating Healthy Options and Better Incentives (2/11) - The House Ways & Means Committee, Health Subcommittee held a hearing that examined ways to promote healthy living with more options, greater flexibility, and better incentives for patients. There was brief discussion from witnesses who raised concerns about the expiration of telehealth in March.

Senate: Confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) (2/13) - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was confirmed to be HHS Secretary. Several members from the Senate Finance Committee submitted questions for the record, which included robust conversations about RFK’s telehealth priorities. After RFK’s confirmation, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission. 

Sen. Cassidy (R-LA): Reintroduction of the Connected Maternal Online Monitoring (MOM) Act – (1/17) – Sens. Cassidy (R-LA) and Hassan (D-NH) introduced the Connected MOM Act (S.141), which would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide coverage recommendations for remote devices such as those that can check for irregularities in blood pressure, blood glucose, and pulse rates which can be indicators of potential pregnancy complications. It also requires CMS to update state resources, such as state Medicaid telehealth toolkits, to correspond with the recommendations provided. The goal is to improve maternal and infant outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women.