What’s the news: The AMA is expressing “strong support” (PDF) for a bipartisan bill that, if passed, would ensure Medicare patients would no longer have to worry about losing their ability to access telehealth services and other important flexibilities that they gained during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies Health Act 2025— known as the CONNECT for Health Act—was introduced by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). The measure would permanently lift statutory restrictions that were eased at the beginning of the pandemic to allow physicians, when appropriate, to care for patients via telemedicine rather than risk them physically coming into a clinic and spreading or contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Although Congress’ most recent continuing resolution to fund the government for the 2025 fiscal year keeps the flexibilities in place for patients and physicians, there is no guarantee that Congress will renew them when that extension expires Sept. 30. Passing the CONNECT for Health Act, S. 1261, would take away that uncertainty.
From AI implementation to EHR adoption and usability, the AMA is fighting to make technology work for physicians, ensuring that it is an asset to doctors—not a burden.
Why it’s important: Easing restrictions that previously made it difficult for all Medicare patients to use telemedicine significantly improved access to virtual care for patients in rural, urban, suburban and underserved areas.
Prior to the pandemic, only Medicare beneficiaries living in a rural statistical area qualified to receive telehealth services and, in order to access virtual care, the patients needed to travel outside of the home to an acceptable “originating site.” Legislation enacted after the start of the pandemic allowed all Medicare beneficiaries, regardless of where they live, to get care at home instead of traveling to a medical facility to receive telehealth services from a distant site.
The relaxed rules also let patients access health care services through audio-only visits when they don’t have reliable video connections. A survey shows that 74% of physicians report working in practices that offer telehealth.
“Hundreds of thousands of Medicare patients in rural areas could finally avoid costly travel to receive virtual care, while non-rural, underserved areas gained access to telehealth services for the first time,” says a letter from James L. Madara, MD, the AMA’s executive vice president and CEO.
Among the barriers that have been lowered for patients in rural and underserved regions when they seek in-person care: functional limitations that make it difficult for some patients to travel to physician offices, long travel times, workforce shortages, a need for a caregiver to accompany a patient. It has also made it easier for patients experiencing unstable housing or a lack of transportation to get care and it is easier for parents or other caregivers to get care when they no longer have to find childcare to make it to an appointment.
“While the CONNECT for Health Act does not extend every flexibility enacted in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, it permanently removes the antiquated geographic restrictions,” the letter tells the senators. “It enables Medicare patients in urban and rural areas to access telehealth services wherever they can access a telecommunications system. As a result, patients will no longer have to travel to originating sites to access virtual care.”
When it comes to telehealth for mental care, the CONNECT for Health Act would repeal the requirement that patients see a physician in-person within six months of an initial telemental health visit. The rule is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and federal lawmakers have so far delayed the mandate from going into effect.
“This policy must be permanently removed to ensure patients retain ample access to telemental health services,” the letter says. “The dramatic increase in the availability of telehealth services has also produced innovative hybrid models of care delivery utilizing in-person, telehealth and remote monitoring services so that patients can obtain the optimal mix of service modalities to meet their health care needs.”
Reduced fragmentation of care—which can result in inadequate care for patients—has been another benefit of the hybrid models because patients are able to access their regular physicians via telehealth rather than using separate telehealth-only companies that may not coordinate care with their regular physicians.
“The AMA stands committed to eliminating physicians’ unnecessary barriers in delivering seamless quality telehealth care,” the letter concludes.
A House companion bill with the same title that will be sponsored by Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.
Learn more: Explore seven ways that telehealth is reshaping medicine for the better, including extending prenatal care to underserved rural areas, offering a life-saving care option for patients with opioid-use disorder, delivering high-quality psychiatric care to more patients and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In a Leadership Viewpoints column, AMA Immediate Past President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, explained how permanently expanding telehealth access will improve public health.
Visit AMA Advocacy in Action to find out what’s at stake in supporting telehealth and other advocacy priorities the AMA is actively working on.
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