{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-boozman-introduce-legislation-to-permanently-expand-access-to-telehealth", "Cotton, Boozman Introduce Legislation to Permanently Expand Access to Telehealth", "2021-04-29", "2021", "2021-04", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: James Arnold or Mary Collins Atkinson (202) 224-2353\n\nApril 29, 2021\n\nCotton, Boozman Introduce Legislation to Permanently Expand Access to Telehealth\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and John Boozman (R-Arkansas) today introduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technology (CONNECT) for Health Act, legislation to improve and expand access to telehealth services.\n\n\u201cEliminating certain restrictions for telehealth services allows Arkansans greater access to healthcare without traveling long distances. Our bill will keep these services in place even after the public health emergency expires,\u201d said Cotton.\n\n\u201cTelehealth was already a promising health care delivery option, but it quickly became essential amid the pandemic. Now, we must ensure it is widely accessible in the long term in order to more readily meet patients\u2019 needs and give providers the ability to offer care to more Americans. Making these changes permanent and better understanding how to utilize this revolutionary tool is both common sense and profoundly important,\u201d said Boozman.\n\nThe CONNECT for Health Act was first introduced in 2016 and has the support of more than 150 organizations including AARP, America\u2019s Essential Hospitals, American College of Emergency Physicians, American Hospital Association, American Heart Association, American Medical Association, American Medical Group Association, American Nurses Association, American Telemedicine Association, Children\u2019s National Hospital, eHealth Initiative, Federation of American Hospitals, Health Innovation Alliance, HIMSS, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Association of Community Health Centers, National Association of Rural Health Clinics, National Rural Health Association, Personal Connected Health Alliance, and Teladoc Health.\n\nThe CONNECT for Health Act will:\n\nPermanently remove all geographic restrictions on telehealth services and expand originating sites to include the home and other sites;\n\nAllow health centers and rural health clinics to provide telehealth services, a provision currently in place due to the pandemic but on a temporary basis;\n\nProvide the Secretary of Health and Human Services with the permanent authority to waive telehealth restrictions, a provision currently in place due to the pandemic but on a temporary basis;\n\nAllow for the waiver of telehealth restrictions during public health emergencies; and\n\nRequire a study to learn more about how telehealth has been used during the current COVID-19 pandemic.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:42:19Z"]], "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.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-boozman-introduce-legislation-to-permanently-expand-access-to-telehealth"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3624920975416899, "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"}