WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today applauded President Trump’s executive order to improve access to rural health care, particularly through telehealth expansion, which has been a top priority for Cassidy during the COVID pandemic and beyond.
“Telehealth expansions granted under the CARES Act prove that technology lessens the gap between rural patients and their access to high-quality health care. By making these permanent, patients keep benefiting. I look forward to working with President Trump to continue to increase access to health care for our neighbors who live in rural Louisiana,” said Dr. Cassidy.
Cassidy has been the leading advocate in Washington for expanding telehealth services for rural Louisianans. He efforts during the CARES debate resulted in expanded access and Medicare coverage for telehealth services from federally-qualified health centers and rural health clinics during the coronavirus outbreak.
In July, Cassidy and U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) wrote to the administrationasking that telehealth extensions be made permanent.
Last week, they introduced a bipartisan bill to study how federal telehealth waivers have affected delivery of health care services to rural Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the study is to determine what has worked efficiently and what could be improved, with the idea that extended telehealth services would be made permanent after the pandemic is over.
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