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CQRC applauds telehealth proposal

CQRC applauds telehealth proposal

WASHINGTON – The Council for Quality Respiratory Care has commended lawmakers in the House of Representatives for including an important provision in the newly introduced 21st Century Cures 2.0 Act to permanently extend the home as a site for telehealth for Medicare beneficiaries. The bill would also allow CMS to extend other telehealth flexibilities permanently to increase access to telehealth services. “Given the increasingly important role of home respiratory care in the treatment of Medicare patients before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the crucial importance of telehealth as a way to increase access to care, we strongly support the efforts to permanently extend Medicare telehealth flexibilities and increase access to these services,” said Crispin Teufel, CQRC Chairman. "If passed, 21st Century Cures 2.0 would go a long way to supporting a sustainable home respiratory therapy infrastructure.” More specifically, the bi-partisan bill, introduced by Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Fred Upton, R-Mich., would permanently remove Medicare's geographic and originating site restrictions that require a patient to live in a rural area and be physically in a doctor's office or clinic to use telehealth services, a long-time priority of CQRC.

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