April 1, 2019: MGMA responds to the Congressional Telehealth Caucus's Request for Information on expanding access to telehealth services

April 1, 2019  

Representative Mike Thompson                  Representative Peter Welch                         
406 Cannon HOB                                            2187 Rayburn HOB                                     
Washington, DC 20515                                   Washington, DC 20515                                

Representative David Schweikert                Senator Brian Schatz 
1526 Longworth HOB                                      722 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20515                                    Washington, DC 20510 

Senator Roger Wicker                                   Senator John Thune
555 Dirksen Senate Office Building                 S-208, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510                                    Washington, DC 20510 

Senator Ben Cardin                                        Senator Mark Warner                                   
509 Hart Senate Office Building                        703 Hart Senate Office Building                 
Washington, DC 20510                                     Washington, DC 20510                                
 
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith
702 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510


Re: Telehealth Request for Information  

Dear Members of the Congressional Telehealth Caucus, 

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is pleased to submit the following response to the Congressional Telehealth Caucus’s Request for Information (RFI) on recommendations to expand access to telehealth to improve patient outcomes. We commend this caucus for recognizing the importance of expanding telehealth to patients who can greatly benefit from it and for seeking stakeholder feedback on how this can be done.   

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is the premier association for professionals who lead medical practices. Since 1926, through data, people, insights, and advocacy, MGMA empowers medical group practices to innovate and create meaningful change in healthcare. With a membership of more than 45,000 medical practice administrators, executives, and leaders, MGMA represents more than 12,500 organizations of all sizes, types, structures and specialties that deliver almost half of the healthcare in the United States.  
 
Telehealth utilization among Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries is low. In 2016, only 0.25% of more than 35 million Medicare FFS beneficiaries utilized telehealth services.1 Like the members of the Telehealth Caucus, MGMA believes there are opportunities to increase access to care by leveraging telehealth services and makes the following recommendations as the caucus begins crafting its comprehensive telehealth legislation.


 

View the full letter