S1261119th CongressWALLET

CONNECT for Health Act of 2025

Sponsored By: Senator Brian Schatz

Introduced

Summary

Expands Medicare telehealth access by removing location limits and updating how telehealth is paid and overseen. It would also strengthen program integrity, require provider and beneficiary supports, modernize quality measures, and publish telehealth data.

Show full summary
  • Families, seniors, and underserved patients would gain broader access because the bill removes Medicare geographic and originating-site restrictions and lifts the six-month prior in-person rule for telemental health. It explicitly expands access for Indian Health Service and tribal facilities effective January 1, 2026.
  • Providers and clinics would see payment and staffing changes because telehealth furnishing at Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics would be folded into existing payment systems and the Secretary could waive practitioner-type limits starting October 1, 2025 with public notice and periodic review.
  • Oversight, quality, and transparency would increase through a new fraud and advertising framework, outlier-billing thresholds with education and public reporting, dedicated HHS Office of Inspector General telehealth oversight funding through 2030, a quality-measure review within 180 days, and CMS quarterly public reporting of telehealth use and outcomes.

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.

Expanded Medicare telehealth access for seniors

If enacted, the bill would remove Medicare geographic and originating-site limits for telehealth starting October 1, 2025. If enacted, the Secretary could waive practitioner-type limits for telehealth starting October 1, 2025 when clinically appropriate. If enacted, the bill would repeal the six-month prior in-person rule for telemental health. If enacted, the bill would exempt IHS, tribal, and Native Hawaiian facilities from some originating-site rules starting January 1, 2026. If enacted, the bill would let certain 1135 emergency waivers apply during declared public health emergencies.

Stronger telehealth billing and fraud checks

If enacted, CMS would use claims and standard health IDs to find unusual telehealth billing and notify flagged providers with comparison data. If enacted, Telehealth Resource Centers would give training and technical help to providers flagged as outliers. If enacted, providers could not give telehealth technologies to Medicare patients as part of advertisements and must meet Secretary rules. If enacted, the bill would authorize $3,000,000 per year for FY2026–2030 for HHS OIG telehealth oversight, subject to future appropriations.

New payment rules for community clinics

If enacted, telehealth services furnished by FQHCs and RHCs would be treated as outpatient services and paid under their prospective payment systems starting October 1, 2025. If enacted, costs for furnishing telehealth by those clinics would be considered allowable costs under the payment rules. If enacted, Medicare would not pay certain originating-site facility fees for some narrowly described Native American sites, which could change payments to those facilities.

Telehealth training, accessibility, and reporting

If enacted, HHS must publish resources and guidance within six months to help people with limited English use telehealth. If enacted, HHS must publish guidance and training for telehealth access for people with disabilities, including captioning and interpreter use. If enacted, the bill would authorize 'such sums as necessary' for education and outreach, but Congress would have to appropriate funds before HHS could spend them.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Brian Schatz

HI • D

Cosponsors

  • Roger Wicker

    MS • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Mark Warner

    VA • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Cindy Hyde-Smith

    MS • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Peter Welch

    VT • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • John Barrasso

    WY • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Alex Padilla

    CA • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • John Thune

    SD • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Tina Smith

    MN • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • James Lankford

    OK • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Maria Cantwell

    WA • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Tommy Tuberville

    AL • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • John Hickenlooper

    CO • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Tom Cotton

    AR • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Amy Klobuchar

    MN • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Dan Sullivan

    AK • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • John Fetterman

    PA • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Shelley Capito

    WV • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Jeff Merkley

    OR • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Cynthia Lummis

    WY • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Timothy Kaine

    VA • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Kevin Cramer

    ND • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Jeanne Shaheen

    NH • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Katie Britt

    AL • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Ruben Gallego

    AZ • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Jerry Moran

    KS • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM]

    NM • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Bill Cassidy

    LA • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Richard Blumenthal

    CT • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Thomas Tillis

    NC • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Angus King

    ME • I

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • James Justice

    WV • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Christopher Coons

    DE • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Eric Schmitt

    MO • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Sheldon Whitehouse

    RI • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Lisa Murkowski

    AK • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Jacky Rosen

    NV • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • John Hoeven

    ND • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Cory Booker

    NJ • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Chuck Grassley

    IA • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Tammy Duckworth

    IL • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Mike Rounds

    SD • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Bernie Sanders

    VT • I

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Roger Marshall

    KS • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Mark Kelly

    AZ • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Deb Fischer

    NE • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Kirsten Gillibrand

    NY • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Todd Young

    IN • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Martin Heinrich

    NM • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Susan Collins

    ME • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Gary Peters

    MI • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Pete Ricketts

    NE • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Adam Schiff

    CA • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Markwayne Mullin

    OK • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Elizabeth Warren

    MA • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Lindsey Graham

    SC • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Chris Van Hollen

    MD • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Steve Daines

    MT • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Raphael Warnock

    GA • D

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • John Boozman

    AR • R

    Sponsored 4/2/2025

  • Michael Bennet

    CO • D

    Sponsored 4/28/2025

  • John Kennedy

    LA • R

    Sponsored 4/28/2025

  • Elissa Slotkin

    MI • D

    Sponsored 5/1/2025

  • Bernie Moreno

    OH • R

    Sponsored 5/1/2025

  • Andy Kim

    NJ • D

    Sponsored 9/30/2025

  • Ted Budd

    NC • R

    Sponsored 9/30/2025

  • Edward Markey

    MA • D

    Sponsored 12/9/2025

  • Jim Banks

    IN • R

    Sponsored 12/9/2025

  • Catherine Cortez Masto

    NV • D

    Sponsored 12/15/2025

  • Tim Sheehy

    MT • R

    Sponsored 12/15/2025

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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