SubscribeOn May 3, 2017, the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act of 2017 (S. 1016) (CONNECT Act of 2017) was reintroduced by the same six senators who had initially introduced the legislation in early 2016 and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. As we previously reported on February 29, 2016, this iteration of the proposed bill also focuses on promoting cost savings and quality care under the Medicare program through the use of telehealth and remote patient monitoring (RPM) services, and incentivizing such digital health technologies by expanding coverage for them under the Medicare program—albeit using different terminology. Chiefly, the CONNECT Act of 2017 serves as a way to expand telehealth and RPM for Medicare beneficiaries, makes it easier for patients to connect with their health care providers and helps reduce costs for patients and providers. As with the previous iteration, the CONNECT Act of 2017 has received statements of support from over 50 organizations, including the American Medical Association, American Telemedicine Association, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Connected Health Initiative, Federation of State Medical Boards, National Coalition on Health Care and an array of vendors and health systems. (more…)
Federation of State Medical Boards
FTC Weighs-in on Telehealth: Providing Comments Regarding Alaska’s Proposed Licensure and Standard of Care Requirements
In March 2016, the US Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) staff submitted public comments regarding the telehealth provisions of a proposed state bill in Alaska demonstrating the FTC’s continued focus on health care competition and general discouragement of anti competitive conduct in health care markets, with a renewed interest and focus on telehealth.
