Daschle, former senators form alliance to lobby for new telehealth rules

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Thomas Daschle, former Democratic senator from South Dakota, has long been concerned about how his largely rural constituents access health care. Now Daschle, with help from former senators Trent Lott (R-MI) and John Breaux (D-LA), created a coalition of companies at the intersection of health and technology to push for changing regulations governing telehealth.

Current members of the Alliance for Connected Care, which just launched publicly, include Verizon, WellPoint, CVS and Walgreens, among others. “Telehealth services are rapidly becoming a very important part of health-care delivery under the new paradigm, but we unfortunately don’t have a regulatory environment or policy environment that accommodates the new technology,” Daschle said. “It hasn’t been changed in about 15 years.” The fiercest opposition to relaxing telehealth regulations comes from those concerned that virtual treatment will be of a lower quality than in-person visits, he said -- so the alliance aims to combat such perceptions by demonstrating the systems to physicians, medical boards and legislators.


Daschle, former senators form alliance to lobby for new telehealth rules