Call to Action: Sign Multi-Stakeholder Letter Urging Senate to Pass Telehealth Legislation This Fall

We have heard a chorus of support from our members related to the success they have experienced with telehealth throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. This success is only further backed up by its widespread use and support by clinicians and patients.

What some may not realize is that many of the current telehealth flexibilities were enacted at the start of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) and are temporary. Without Congressional action, nearly all of these policies will expire 151 days after the end of the PHE.

The PHE, which must be renewed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) every 90 days, is up for renewal in October and could end at the end of 2022 or in early 2023.

For this reason, CHIME is leading a multi-stakeholder letter urging Senate leadership to pass a two-year extension of these important telehealth policies this fall, while continuing to push for a permanent extension. The House has already acted on this issue in a bipartisan manner when it passed H.R. 4040, the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act, by a vote of 416-12 in July.

You can find a copy of the letter here. The deadline to sign your organization onto this important letter is Monday, September 12 at 12 p.m. ET. Please reach out to Cassie Ballard, CHIME’s Director of Congressional Affairs, at cleonard@chimecentral.org to have your organization’s name added.

The other organizations leading the letter are the Alliance for Connected Care, American Telemedicine Association (ATA), Connected Health Initiative, Consumer Technology Association, Executives for Health Innovation, Health Innovation Alliance, HIMSS, and the Partnership to Advance Virtual Care.

CHIME, alongside more than 360 organizations, sent a similar letter to Congressional leadership on January 31, 2022.