Dogtown Media Champions Bipartisan CONNECT for Health Act

After seven years of promises to their constituents, House Republicans passed their repeal of Obamacare earlier today by a narrow vote of 217 to 213. To say that the bill is controversial is putting it lightly — for many Americans, it’s literally a life-or-death matter. But in this period of turmoil for the American healthcare system, there is a glimmer of bipartisan hope in the form of the CONNECT for Health Act of 2017, a bill introduced in the Senate just yesterday that would use telehealth solutions to lower costs for patients and providers alike and improve care outcomes, especially for patients in remote areas. Like many other app developers, Dogtown Media is enthusiastic about integrating MedTech solutions in the American healthcare system. We join the other members of ACT – The App Association’s Connected Health Initiative (CHI) in supporting this important legislation.

According to Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), one of the bill’s sponsors, “This legislation seeks to harness the promise of American technology and innovation to lower costs and improve the quality of care for Medicare patients.” That’s a law healthcare app developers can really get behind. The legislation would expand on provisions in the CHRONIC Care Act, another piece of legislation championed by ACT and Dogtown that aims to increase the telehealth solutions covered by Medicare in order to better combat chronic disease. It would boost the usage of telehealth technologies and remote patient monitoring, with a special emphasis on patients living with chronic diseases or those living in isolated rural communities. It would also utilize more tele-mental health technology, a rapidly growing field that’s a perfect fit for this era of increasing mental health awareness.

The law would also grant Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price authority to remove obstacles to the widespread implementation of telehealth solutions. “By lifting arduous limitations on the use of telehealth and empowering Medicare physicians to utilize innovative remote monitoring technologies, responsible and secure connected health solutions may be introduced more broadly throughout the continuum of care to improve patient health outcomes,” according to CHI Executive Director Morgan Reed. ACT, Dogtown, and the app development community at large have always believed in the power of MedTech to save money and lives. In a time when healthcare issues have become so politicized, telehealth solutions bridge the divide.

We hope the Senate makes the right choice for patients across America and passes the CONNECT for Health Act.