(DC)- Government officials say Telehealth use among Medicare patients during the COVID-19 pandemic was ten times higher when compared to pre-pandemic levels. That’s why Virginia Senator Tim Kaine wants to make it easier for the nearly 1.6 million Virginians on Medicare to access telehealth. Kaine is co-sponsoring the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act, which would extend the pandemic-era rules covering Medicare patients who access telehealth services from home. Prior to the pandemic, Medicare wouldn’t reimburse providers the same way they would during an in-person visit. Those regulations were relaxed when the pandemic began, Kaine wants to make those changes permanent.
