WASHINGTON –U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Thad Cochran, R-Miss., have introduced legislation to expand the use of telehealth technology to improve health care for seniors and other patients in underserved areas.

The Telehealth Enhancement Act of 2014 (S.2662) would provide Medicare beneficiaries with greater access to telehealth technologies to help lower health care costs.  The Senate measure is a companion bill to bipartisan legislation (HR.3306) authored by Representative Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) last year.  Wicker and Cochran intend to seek bipartisan support for their bill.

“This bill would give Mississippi’s innovative health-care providers, like UMMC, the necessary tools for telehealth technology, improving the ways they serve their patients,” Wicker said.  “Telehealth cuts down travel time and increases access to specialists for residents in many rural areas who do not live near these essential health-care resources.”

“Advances in technology create opportunities to improve health care for seniors, veterans, rural patients and people who live in medically underserved areas,” Cochran said.  “This legislation is an effort to build on the progress already being made in states like Mississippi by expanding the use of telehealth technologies to better serve patients and save taxpayer dollars.”

“This legislation would be a game-changer in our state, allowing us to accelerate our efforts to improve access to health services in rural areas and other underserved locations,” said Dr. James E. Keeton, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson.  “As health care economics change and our nation’s demographic profile shifts, telehealth will be crucial to our ability to take care of people.”

“Telehealth is one of the most promising aspects of the health care field. The bill introduced by Senators Cochran and Wicker would help telehealth become a reality for even more of those who need it,” said Harper.  “I thank them for their leadership on this issue.”

S.2662 would waive statutory Medicare restrictions on telehealth services in order to encourage greater use of telehealth technologies.  By adjusting Medicare home health payments, patients would be given access to nearby services through remote monitoring technologies.  The measure would extend telehealth coverage to all critical access and sole-community hospitals regardless of metropolitan status.  In some circumstances, the legislation would cover more home-based video services for hospice care, home dialysis and homebound seniors if their residence is conducive to such technology.

The bill would also give states the opportunity to modify Medicaid coverage to include telehealth services for women with high-risk pregnancies by creating birthing networks that would allow medical providers to treat conditions such as gestational diabetes and hypertension.

S.2662 has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee.  HR.3306 is pending in the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  The Harper measure has 20 cosponsors, including Representatives Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) and Benny Thompson (D-Miss.).