January 30, 2023: MGMA response to RFI on the CONNECT for Health Act

January 30, 2023
 

The Honorable Brian Schatz	The Honorable Mike Thompson
722 Hart Senate Office Building	268 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20510	Washington, DC 20515

Re: Request for Information about the CONNECT for Health Act

Dear Senator Schatz and Representative Thompson:

On behalf of our member medical group practices, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide input on the potential reintroduction of the CONNECT for Health Act (CONNECT Act). Senator Schatz and Representative Thompson have been longtime champions of implementing commonsense telehealth reforms that are sorely needed to expand low-cost, high-quality care to patients and provide certainty to practices. MGMA is grateful for your leadership, as well as the hard work of both the Senate Telehealth Working Group and House Telehealth Caucus, in expanding telehealth flexibilities throughout the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).

With a membership of more than 60,000 medical practice administrators, executives, and leaders, MGMA represents more than 15,000 medical groups in which more than 350,000 physicians practice. These groups range from small private practices in rural areas to large regional and national health systems and cover the full spectrum of physician specialties and organizational forms. MGMA’s members saw the positive impact of the temporary flexibilities instituted following the COVID-19 PHE on practices’ ability to serve patients wherever they may be located. In a November 2022 poll of MGMA members, 72% of medical groups indicated they expected patient demand for telehealth to stay the same or increase in 2023. Enacting an updated version of the CONNECT Act following Congress’ and the Administration’s recent telehealth extensions would help foster a robust health system.

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