Orrin Hatch: “today, the Senate is voting on S. 2873, the ECHO Act. In April, Senator Schatz and I introduced this bill to highlight…”

“today, the Senate is voting on S. 2873, the ECHO Act. In April, Senator Schatz and I introduced this bill to highlight the impressive work of technology-enabled collaborative learning and capacity-building models. One such model that has brought promising new ideas to our Nation's healthcare delivery system is Project ECHO, which started in New Mexico and quickly expanded to Utah. Today, Project ECHO is thriving in more than 30 States. Our bill draws on the success of Project ECHO to improve health services on a national scale. Our proposal is not political; rather, it is the culmination of a broad bipartisan effort to bring about meaningful healthcare reform that will benefit families across the country in red States and blue States alike. Our legislation improves medical services for all Americans by providing healthcare professionals in rural and underserved communities with access to a network of peers and specialists who can teach specialty care. By connecting doctors and nurses with teams of experts, patients can receive the care they need when they need it. Most importantly, patients will not have to travel long distances to receive treatments; they can stay close to home and receive treatment from doctors they know and trust. In today's bustling healthcare environment, policymakers often forget that healthcare delivery works differently in urban and rural settings.…”