Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4040, the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act, legislation to further extend telehealth policies that have been critical to providing care during the pandemic through the end of 2024. Since long before the COVID pandemic, I worked closely with my Energy and Commerce Committee colleague, Representative Bill Johnson, in crafting legislation to remove barriers to telehealth and advancing policies that expand access and improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. As a cosponsor of this bill, I am pleased to see some of that important work make progress today. This legislation builds on Congress' efforts to give patients and providers the certainty they need that telehealth is here to stay. While this bipartisan telehealth bill meets many of our shared objectives, we also must recognize that our work on telehealth is not done. There are vital telehealth priorities still demanding our attention that will truly shape care delivery for the future, including the need to extend the DEA in-person waiver for remote prescribing of controlled substances after the public health emergency ends. Likewise, while this bill continues a crucial delay of the in-person telemental health requirement, we cannot allow an arbitrary and clinically unsupported in-person requirement to act as a barrier to mental health care when the pandemic extensions run out. I look forward to continuing this work with my colleagues.…”