Nurturing and Improving Telehealth in the Time of Coronavirus – Daily Signal

The spread of the Chinesecoronavirus will strain Americas health care system to the breaking point.Primary care physicians already are overbooked, medical products are in shortsupply, and those who become symptomatic are afraid to visit clinics for fearof putting other, more vulnerable patients at risk.

Fortunately, many of ourconversations on Capitol Hill have turned toward boosting telehealth servicesas a way of easing the burden on health care providers. Various experts andpolicymakers finally have realized that the benefits of telehealth transcendconvenience.

The first time that members of the U.S. Senate met with Trump administration officials to discuss coronavirus response, I asked officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to push for temporary relief of regulations preventing Medicare patients from taking advantage of telehealth services.

President Donald Trump lastweek gave the green light for CMS to lift those regulations. Now its time forstate Medicaid officials and private insurers to get on board.

All Americans, not just the medically complex or vulnerable patients, should have access to these services.

Coverage of our efforts toloosen these restrictions has made telemedicine feel like a novel concept. Butwe started building the foundation to support health care technology yearsbefore COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, spread beyondChinas borders.

Asrecently as 2015, the same level of regulatory scrutiny applied to medicaldevices controlled the Food and Drug Administrations approval ofhealth-focused apps and software packages. This false equivalency created aregulatory nightmare that discouraged innovators from bringing new products tomarket.

The only answer was toeliminate unnecessary red tape. In 2015, I introduced legislation that directedthe FDA to come up with a more efficient way of approving health care softwarethat wouldnt discourage innovation.

Oncemy bill, the SOFTWARE Act, was integrated into legislation called the 21st CenturyCures Act, its provisions made it possible for regulators and the privatesector to work together and give us todays popular health and fitness apps andvirtual appointment software.

Asour love of tech grew, so did our focus on health care innovation and buildinga strong network to support it. Efforts to create the high-speed internetconnections required by telehealth software, including my Internet ExchangeAct, are targeted directly at communities that were left behind by previousefforts to roll out broadband.

Thiscontinued focus on underserved communities was an intentional effort toshowcase how innovation and lighter regulation can work together to help entirecommunities.

Lastyear, as part of my rural health agenda, I introduced the Telehealth AcrossState Lines Act to guide creation of uniform, national best practices for theprovision of telemedicine across state lines, set up a grant program to expandexisting telehealth programs, and incentivize permanent adoption of telehealthby Medicare and Medicaid.

Thesepolicies, though focused on rural America, can be adapted to encourage the useof telemedicine in all communities, and we must implement them as part of ourefforts to combat COVID-19.

Technology that can spare people from the threat of community spread should not be seen as a luxury. It is a necessary tool that we must use as often as we can if we want to flatten the curve and eventually suppress transmission of COVID-19 in the United States.

Although adopting telehealthservices originally might have been seen as a convenience, now it is anecessary path to making access to health care safer for vulnerablepopulations.

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Nurturing and Improving Telehealth in the Time of Coronavirus - Daily Signal