Gus Bilirakis: “Mr. Chairman, I really appreciate the gentleman sharing his story with us and commend the gentleman from California (Mr.…”

“Mr. Chairman, I really appreciate the gentleman sharing his story with us and commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson) for offering this amendment. Back in the days when Ron Wyden from Oregon, who is now a U.S. senator, was here, he and I spent a lot of time on the issue of telemedicine. We ran into some roadblocks but it has been sort of a little bit of a cause of mine, a secondary cause of mine unfortunately, but I think it is an excellent resource. Frankly, my opinion is that it is not being used to its full potential and hopefully the gentleman's amendment will focus the agency on this particular issue, and hopefully we can improve upon that. So in any case, we are prepared to accept the amendment.”