Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Expand Telehealth, Help More People Receive Health Care

Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Angus King (I-Maine), Gary Peters (D-MI), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Health Care Broadband Expansion During COVID-19 Act. The new bipartisan bill directs $2 billion to help health care providers increase their broadband capacity and expand telehealth services during the current public health crisis. The Health Care Broadband Expansion During COVID-19 Act would:

• Provide $2 billion in additional support for the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program for the coronavirus response.
• Increase the subsidy rate for RHC Health Care Connect Fund participants during the pandemic, which they can put toward additional telehealth resources.
• Enable mobile and non-rural health care facilities to engage in telehealth during the pandemic under the RHC Program.
• Eliminate red-tape and streamline the program’s distribution of funding so that health care providers can quickly implement telehealth applications and treat patients faster.
• Delay the implementation of FCC rules for one year that would severely impact support for some of the program’s most rural health care providers.