Advocating For Telehealth Virtually

For the past few months, the focus in Congress has been COVID-19 relief and recovery. While we have all adapted to the current reality, we must keep our focus on bringing an end to this pandemic and resuming our daily lives as the situation allows. Several times now, the House of Representatives has returned to Washington to vote, and on May 27, for the first time since the beginning of March, the Ways and Means Committee held a hearing.

Committee hearings serve a vital purpose and have been sorely missed. Through these hearings, my colleagues and I are able to listen to expert witnesses, debate policy, and put forth ideas we bring from our constituents. This particular hearing entailed a look at the impact of COVID-19 on underserved communities, such as minority and rural communities. The challenges facing these communities aren't new, but the pandemic has brought new attention to these problems, including access to care and affordability of coverage.

However, this hearing was different from any we have had before -- it was held online. Like so many other aspects of our lives, Congress is adapting to life in this time of social distancing. Virtual committee hearings have their own challenges, and are not a permanent substitute for our traditional, in-person committee meetings, but still afford us the opportunity to get together and discuss the critical issues facing our country.

As we discussed the impacts of COVID-19 on different communities, I used my time during the hearing to urge my colleagues to make it easier for health care providers to use lifesaving technologies such as telehealth. The circumstances of advocating for health care providers to be better able to use electronic communications for health care, while we were meeting virtually as a committee, was not lost on me. Telehealth has proven to be a key component in the COVID response, allowing patients to continue to engage with their medical providers while limiting the spread of or exposure to the virus.

However, we need to ensure these new opportunities and technologies are able to benefit all of our communities, especially underserved minority and rural populations. Despite action we have taken to improve access to care through telehealth, some crucial primary care providers such as Rural Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers are still struggling to utilize telehealth to reach their patients, either because of insufficient resources or because of uncertainties regarding future reimbursements.

For this reason, I recently introduced the Improving Telehealth for Underserved Communities Act (H.R. 6792) to make it easier for RHCs and FQHCs to reach their vulnerable patient populations with telehealth services, and to ensure fair reimbursement for such services. When I talk to patients and providers, adding simplicity to health care is always a main topic. The easier we can make it for patients and providers to connect, the better.

While I look forward to returning to working together with my colleagues in person as soon as possible, our world has drastically changed since the beginning of the pandemic, and one of those changes will be increased reliance on the internet and web connectivity. We must always be looking for innovation in health care, and telehealth certainly fits the bill. As we continue to forge ahead with COVID-19 response and recovery, I will continue to advocate for underserved communities; and increasing access to health care is at the top of the list.

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