With a limited number of legislative days left in the 118th Congress, your help is needed in urging Congress to act on these important issues:

• Passing the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024 (H.R. 7623), which would extend telehealth flexibilities established during COVID-19 public health emergency for two2 years through December 2026. A permanent extension of telehealth flexibilities is preferred, but recognizing the need to extend it this year, we are asking Congress to pass the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024 this year.

The bill includes the removal of geographic restrictions, expansion of originating sites required for telehealth visits, and audio-only telehealth access. It would also allow for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) to continue providing telehealth service, and reform pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices by improving transparency, accountability, and competition in PBM practices.

• Passing the Physician Fee Schedule Update and Improvements Act (H.R. 6545) and the Physician Fee Stabilization Act (S. 4935), which require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to raise the budget neutrality threshold to $53 million from $20 million and would use cumulative increases in the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) to update the threshold every five years afterwards. The $20 million threshold was established in 1992 and has not been updated since. Raising the budget-neutrality threshold would allow for greater flexibility in determining pricing adjustments for services without triggering across-the-board cuts in Medicare physician pay due to budget neutrality.

Action Requested: Please contact your members of Congress expressing the need for them to act on these important priorities before the end of the year. A sample email message and phone script have been provided for you that you can personalize. 

Please contact Shuan Tomlinson at stomlinson@acponline.org with any questions about this campaign. Thank you for your continued advocacy.

Stay tuned for future updates as our advocacy on this issue continues.