Roundtable Discussion is a Step toward Making Power of Telehealth a Reality
Washington, D.C. – Today the Health IT Now Coalition applauded the Senate Special Committee on Aging and its Chairman, Senator Bill Nelson for hosting a roundtable on the important issue of telehealth and telemedicine. This fall, lawmakers have an opportunity to make “Harnessing the Power of Telehealth” a reality.
“On behalf of the Health IT Now Coalition, I thank Chairman Bill Nelson and Ranking Member Susan Collins for hosting a roundtable to discuss the future of telehealth in America,” Joel White, Executive Director of Health IT Now said. “As our population ages, telehealth can improve access, outcomes and costs for those with long-term and chronic illnesses. The use of telemedicine in public programs is appallingly modest, representing less than one percent of all Medicare dollars. Congress needs to step up and modernize Medicare and Medicaid to reflect the cultural and technological advances in delivering lower-cost care. We must recognize telemedicine can be more cost effective than in-person care. It is critical that we get serious about telehealth by enacting legislation to expand its use in Medicare. The bipartisan TELE-MED Act (HR3077) is one way to do that. I encourage Senator Nelson, Senator Collins to be the Senate Champions of this important effort.”
About Health IT Now:
Health IT Now (HITN) is a broad based coalition of patient groups, provider organizations, employers and payers that supports incentives to deploy heath information technology to improve care, provider performance, patient outcomes, and to lower costs.
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