{"id":32765,"date":"2021-08-13T18:48:30","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T18:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mtelehealth.com\/?p=32765"},"modified":"2021-08-13T18:48:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T18:48:30","slug":"cures-2-0-includes-provisions-to-expand-telehealth-coverage-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drmiltie.com\/at-home-testing\/cures-2-0-includes-provisions-to-expand-telehealth-coverage-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Cures 2.0 Includes Provisions to Expand Telehealth Coverage, Services"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

While focusing on research to tackle cancer and other diseases, the massive Cures 2.0 bill unveiled last week includes provisions aimed at extending telehealth coverage and access beyond the pandemic.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Eric Wicklund<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 28, 2021 – The next phase of the 21st Century Cures Act includes several measures to boost Medicare coverage for telehealth, through both new programs and acts to permanently extend connected health freedoms enacted during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re part of the massive, 127-page discussion draft \u2013 called Cures 2.0<\/a> \u2013 released last week by US Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Diana DeGette (D-CO), who helped secure passage of the original bill in 2016. Also included in the bill are measures to create a new federal advanced research agency to cure cancer, Alzheimer\u2019s and other diseases; require the Food and Drug Administration to improve guidelines for innovative digital health technologies; and give patients greater access to their data and more of a say in the healthcare decision-making process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill is years in the making, with Upton and DeGette launching a \u2018Call to Action\u201d in November 2019<\/a> to ask for help designing the new legislation. Telehealth hadn\u2019t been a key component of early plans, but the pandemic changed their strategy a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a four-page summary<\/a> accompanying the bill, Cures 2.0 would:<\/p>\n\n\n\n