[ORTCCTelehealth-TAO] Oregon Senators Co-Sponsor Telehealth Amendment

Fri Dec 18 05:27:55 PST 2009

Dear TAO members and friends,

The message below asks you to contact your Senators about co-sponsoring SA
3136.  If you live in Oregon, I am proud to say that you will not need to
make this request - our Senators Wyden and Merkley have already agreed to
co-sponsor it.  We are so fortunate to have two Senators who understand the
need for telehealth and are supporting efforts to remove the barriers we
face each day to make it happen in Oregon and throughout the United States.

One of the key components of this amendment is that it requires CMS to
develop procedures to accept credentialing and privileging by proxy for
telehealth services.  This would remove a tremendous financial and staff
resource burden from small and rural hospitals wishing to provide services
for their patients telemedically and would make it easier for physicians in
large hospitals and health systems to provide these services.  I

Because our Senators have taken the step to co-sponsor this amendment,
*NOW*would be a good time to send them an email thanking them for
their support
and to let them know why this amendment is important to your program.  They
still have a tremendous amount of work to do to ensure that the amendment is
included in the Senate version of Health Care Reform and that it's
provisions are included in the Conference bill.  Please let them know how
much this work is appreciated, and that telehealth in Oregon will grow more
quickly and easily because of it.

To contact Senator Wyden go to http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/
To contact Senator Merkley go to http://merkley.senate.gov/contact/

If you have any questions about SA 3136, please do not hesitate to contact
Cathy Britain at csbritain at gmail.com.

Happy Holidays,
Cathy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: NRTRC <DONOTREPLYNRTRC at inhs.org>
Date: Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Subject: The Clock is Ticking to Fix Credentialing and Privileging!! So, You
Have to ACT NOW!!
To:

* *

*Telehealth News Update**  *

[image: TLI logo]

*Telehealth Leadership Initiative*

 *Telehealth Leadership Initiative*

1500 K Street, NW

Suite 1100

Washington, DC 20005

www.telehealthleadership.org

     *Oregon** Senators Co-sponsor the Udall Amendment!***

Thank you Oregon, for securing the co-sponsorship of Senators Ron Wyden
(D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) for Senator Tom Udall's amendment (SA 3136)
to the health care reform bill!! This huge success was made possible by the
hard-work and dedication of Cathy Britain, Board Member to the Oregon
Telehealth Alliance and Robert Duehmig, Communications Director for the
Oregon Office of Rural Health.

Two other Senators have also joined as co-sponsors.  A special thanks goes
to telehealth leaders in their respective states for outreach to their
Senators.   Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) joined as a co-sponsor following
communications from American Telemedicine Association President, Dr. Karen
Rheuban.   And Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), became a co-sponsor following
input received from South Dakota telehealth leader, Mary DeVany.

This month, Senator Udall introduced an amendment (SA 3136) to health care
reform that would direct CMS to fix the remote credentialing and
privileging  problem, by requiring CMS to develop procedures to accept
credentialing and privileging standards by proxy for telehealth services.

TLI worked closely with the American Telemedicine Association and The Joint
Commission in helping Senator Udall develop the credentialing and
privileging language.

Right now, the Senator is in discussions with Senate leaders to determine
whether his language is in or out of the health care reform bill.  In the
next several days, the telehealth community will learn if Senator Udall's
credentialing and privileging language was included in the Manager's
Amendment.  We have the chance to have it included if Senator Udall
can demonstrate the support of other senators by signing on co-sponsors.
You need to act now to ask your two U.S. Senators to sign on as a co-sponsor
to SA 3136 ( please click here
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102893120978&s=675&e=001LXt-0mP8K7wdI3Jw87eCFzzztFw0PDzxLyCtAWBxh3Fd4iNKeuWs7wZX3w0E-82Q4rNoa7Vmz1sJ4xOYmHtqWO3_WWYO0-VDDGCZTBxxAZ7deMLEkD712lsd3ij-gZXspj2uROsNJN2IV7TuMBr5fSysXru-aV-aWKTfmezGXzw=>to
find your U.S. Senators).

Senator Udall needs the support of other Senators to demonstrate to the
Senate leaders the importance of these telehealth issues

Please *ACT NOW* by taking the following steps:

1) *Click here
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102893120978&s=675&e=001LXt-0mP8K7y98udKQZZitoP4KGLG_fdTGWSYngQMeUmpjE5lJt6_0jVnesSto1IUOl2HAlODE09tbImDRi6FVEUqlvfXh0hxEDUfXqSfpDIUNepe7Qrv4WXq5BpO0vWD90HJnAkqqmZ8ytHgk-sqvQ==>
*for background information on this issue and a sample e-mail to use to
email your Senators.

2) Call the offices of your two Senators and ask that they show their
support for telehealth by co-sponsoring SA 3136. You can reach their offices
by calling the Capitol operator at 202.224.3121, then ask to be connected to
their offices.

3) Follow-up your call with an email to reaffirm your phone message.

*We need your senators to co-sponsor SA 3136  Please contact them today!*

*Thank You to All of Our Supporters!!***

TLI is pleased to announce the following organizations support the Udall
Amendment:

   - American Medical Association
   - American Telemedicine Association
   - Telehealth Leadership Initiative
   - The Joint Commission
   - American Hospital Association
   - American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
   - American Academy of Neurology
   - American Physical Therapy Association
   - American Occupational Therapy Association
   - American Mental Health Counselors Association
   - American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
   - Continua, a group of more than 200 businesses, endorses the amendment
   and includes members such as Intel, Cisco, GE, IBM, Nokia, Novartis,
   Panasonic, Philips, Price Water House Cooper, Samsung, and Sharp
   - Virtual Radiologic Corporation
   - Nighthawk Radiology Services

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Telehealth Leadership Initiative | 1500 K Street, NW | Suite 1100 |
Washington | DC | 20005

-- 
Catherine S. Britain
csbritain at gmail.com
541-910-7366
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