WASHINGTON - Twenty-nine senators including Commerce Chair Roger Wicker, Mark Warner, Kyrsten Sinema, Lisa Murkowski, Lindsey Graham, and Amy Klobuchar have co-signed a letter led by Brian Schatz urging Senate leaders to permanently implement the pandemic policies that have allowed for an unprecedented uptick in virtual visits.

Some of those temporary policies — including allowing HHS Secretary Alex Azar to waive telehealth restrictions during the Covid-19 emergency — were adopted from the CONNECT for Health Act, S. 2741, a sweeping bill that telehealth proponents have been pushing for years.

Making telehealth access permanent would "assure patients that their care will not be interrupted when the pandemic ends," the letter reads. It could also signal to health care providers that "costs to prepare for and use telehealth would be a sound long-term investment."

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