Bills To Expand Telehealth to PTs and PTAs Now in Both Senate and House

The Senate version of the Expanded Telehealth Access Act is helping to build momentum for change.

Allowing PTs and PTAs to provide services via telehealth in Medicare — a long-time advocacy priority for APTA — is now a step closer to reality: Last week, a group of bipartisan senators introduced a bill that would do that and more, just like companion legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this summer.

The Senate version, also known as the Expanded Telehealth Access Act (S. 3193), instructs the U.S Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to permanently adopt what is a temporary waiver of restrictions on payment for telehealth delivered by PTs and PTAs, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists. The Secretary of Health and Human Services also would be allowed to further expand the list of authorized telehealth providers. The legislation was introduced by Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.

Click here to read more.