{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-discusses-telehealth-services-for-wyomings-seniors/", "Barrasso Discusses Telehealth Services for Wyoming\u2019s Seniors", "2023-11-15", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) recently questioned medical professionals about telehealth services for Wyoming\u2019s seniors on Medicare at a Senate Committee on Finance hearing.\n\nSpecifically, Senator Barrasso spoke about the outsourcing of previously direct patient services to telehealth services and the impacts of this on patients in Wyoming. He also discussed the technology systems required to provide telehealth and the benefits of remote patient monitoring for chronic care.\n\nThe Senate Committee on Finance\u2019s Health Care subcommittee held the hearing titled, Ensuring Medicare Beneficiary Access: A Path to Telehealth Permanency, earlier this week.\n\nOn Outsourced Telehealth Services in Wyoming:\n\n\u201cI want to talk a little about telehealth in Wyoming. It\u2019s an important access point for care. It really helps our Medicare beneficiaries receive specialty services.\n\n\u201cIn 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported that 29 percent of Medicare telehealth services in Wyoming were provided by an out of state provider.\n\n\u201cWhich is of concern if you are in some where you actually need hands-on care. HHS stated the high rate of outsourcing was \u2018likely reflecting shortage and availability of specialists\u2026,\u2019 which is exactly right.\n\n\u201cI am concerned about relying too heavily on telehealth. It\u2019s important, it helps us but I worry about these issues.\n\n\u201cGiven the challenges we face in Wyoming how are you dealing with it from the standpoint of workplace shortages?\u201d\n\nClick here to watch Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks on outsourced telehealth.\n\nOn Systems Required to Provide Telehealth:\n\n\u201cDr. Mehrotra, in your opening statement you talked about how five percent of physicians have closed their physical doors to become full-time telehealth providers.\n\n\u201cI believe there is real value as well in having telehealth, but also the direct hands-on patient care component.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s interesting, having practiced orthopedic surgery for 24 years I feel like I can go back and do the surgery \u2013 I\u2019m not sure I could do the computer work, the technical aspects.\n\n\u201cThe latest estimates are that doctors now spend 20 percent of their time inputting patient information into electronic medical records. Our office did medical records before it was a thing \u2013 we wanted to be on top of things.\n\n\u201cIn the Economist\u2019s Annual Health Barometer, one of the greatest barriers they identified was that: \u2018solutions are not always designed with the needs of clinicians and patients in mind.\u2019\n\n\u201cI find this especially true of the increasingly complex and fragmented systems required to provide telehealth.\n\n\u201cWhat existing telehealth services do you think serve more as barriers rather than solutions?\u201d\n\nFollow-up:\n\n\u201cIf they are spending that much time wondering how to fill this out, it is time they are not in direct patient contact doing what they want to do. If they are still trying to get home to be with family, friends, or do other activities and not feel overwhelmed and burnt out \u2013 it\u2019s a key part of it.\u201d\n\nClick here to watch Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks on systems required for telehealth services.\n\nOn Treating Chronic Care Remotely:\n\n\u201cDr. Wallace, you and I are both invested in improving patient care and outcomes.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s 60 of us in the Senate who co-sponsored the bipartisan CONNECT for Health Act \u2013 Senator Schatz from Hawaii is the original sponsor. A number of us have co-sponsored.\n\n\u201cIt addresses patient care and outcomes and allows for remote patient monitoring for people with chronic conditions.\n\n\u201cRemote patient monitoring is one of the most innovative and cost-effective solutions to chronic care management.\n\n\u201cAs someone who specializes in the treatment of chronic conditions, can you discuss how using remote patient monitoring for your Medicare patients would impact your ability to treat them?\n\nFollow-up:\n\n\u201cIf you have that kind of a decrease across the board of systolic pressure, you don\u2019t know how many strokes you have prevented as well in the process, which is an added effect.\u201d\n\nClick here to watch Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks on treating chronic care.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-discusses-telehealth-services-for-wyomings-seniors/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0384200140833855, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}