A leading nursing home organization is advocating for a federal bill that would increase the use of telehealth through Medicare and help lead to improved care. 

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act (S.2741) in late October. The bipartisan legislation has since been referred to the Senate Finance committee.

Under the legislation, geographic restrictions would be removed to allow telehealth emergency medical care services for beneficiaries in a skilled nursing facility, hospital or critical access hospital. It also would allow the use of telehealth in recertification for hospice care, and include a patient’s home as an eligible originating site for administering telehealth mental health services.

The legislation “builds on the progress made in recent years to increase the use of telehealth through Medicare,” LeadingAge said

Providers have previously called on lawmakers to expand telemedicine services for seniors in hopes that it could ease staffing challenges and lead to care improvements. 

In an April letter to the Congressional Telehealth Caucus, the group recommended several changes to fee-for-service Medicare policy to further expand access to telehealth, such as waiving certain statutory Medicare telehealth requirements.