For Immediate Release:
Contact: Kelly Broadway, 202-808-8853
kbroadway@health-innovation.org
Washington, D.C. – This morning, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will markup 11 bills, including the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024 (H.R. 7623) and the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 (APRA) (H.R. 8818).
The Health Innovation Alliance appreciates that the Committee is tackling these important pieces of legislation. Unfortunately, two proposals require significant changes to effectively deliver telehealth services and protect Americans’ privacy. We welcome the willingness to improve the legislation and look forward to continuing these discussions.
Specific concerns and recommendations include:
- American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 (APRA) Eliminate the private right of action that will only enrich trial lawyers and add full federal preemption to ensure one national privacy standard instead of a patchwork.
“HIA appreciates the Committee updating APRA with several HIA-drafted additions that protect common healthcare activities from unintended interference,” said Brett Meeks, Executive Director, Health Innovation Alliance. “These changes are steps in the right direction allowing important things like practicing medicine, conducting medical research to find new treatments and cures, preventing malpractice, and strengthening patient safety to continue.”
- Remove the burdensome, ill-conceived virtual platform modifier (medical billing code) in the Telehealth Modernization Act.
“Including a permanent change in a temporary extender is the wrong approach. There is little benefit this modifier offers, would be costly to smaller health care practices, and take longer to implement than the actual telehealth extension runs,” said Meeks.