WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined a group of bipartisan Senators this week in introducing the Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act (SAFR) that clarifies the certification requirements for survivor benefits under the Public Safety Officers Benefits Program to account for the unique challenges presented by the pandemic. This legislation would make certain families of public safety officers lost to COVID-19 can quickly access survivor benefits.

“Our law enforcement officers continue to show up for work every day during this pandemic despite the added risk of contracting coronavirus,” said Sen. Moran. “As a country, we support and care for the families of first responders when they pass away from a work-related event, but this bill recognizes the threat COVID-19 has on law enforcement and helps provide the families of our law enforcement officers with the benefits they are owed.”

“America’s first responders are on the front lines in the fight against the pandemic, and sadly, some have already contracted the disease and died while working to keep our communities healthy and safe,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).  “Their loss is not only emotionally devastating, but it also means lost wages in an economically challenging time. The government already provides payments to families of officers or first responders who die from a work-related event, but this bipartisan bill recognizes the unique challenges posed by this pandemic and better ensures that public safety officers’ families can quickly access the financial help they’ve been promised.”

The Public Safety Officers Benefits Program, administered by the Justice Department, provides death benefits to survivors of police officers and first responders who perish in the line of duty or as the result of a work-related event. The program requires evidence linking deaths caused by an infectious disease to work-related activity. In many cases, the origin of an infection can be easily identified, but determining where and when someone contracts COVID-19 in the midst of a global pandemic presents a unique challenge.

SAFR works to overcome this challenge by establishing a temporary presumption that COVID-19 infections will be considered to be contracted while on duty if diagnosed within 45 days of an officer’s last shift. The legislation ensures that families of officers and first responders lost while fighting the pandemic don’t face unnecessary barriers to benefits they’ve already been promised. The legislation is endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, National Association of Police Officers, Federal Law Enforcement Officer Association, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the Sergeants Benevolent Association of New York and the National Association of School Resource Officers.

This legislation was led by Sens. Grassley and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and cosponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today announced that Kansas will receive 100,000 surgical masks from Taiwan. After a request from Sen. Moran’s staff, Taiwan designated 100,000 masks for Kansas as part of its third round of international aid to countries impacted by COVID-19. The shipment of masks is expected to arrive next week. 

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been listening to the needs of Kansans and gone to work focused on addressing their most critical needs,” said Sen. Moran. “We have a shortage of PPE in hot spots across our state, and I’m very appreciative of President Tsai and Taiwan for generously donating 100,000 surgical masks to Kansas to protect our frontline medical professionals and those working in our vital food supply chains. This is another great reminder that we are all in this together and that Taiwan’s contributions to promoting global health deserve the highest praise.”

“I am grateful for the friendship between the U.S. and Taiwan,” Sen. Moran continued. “On behalf of all Kansans, I want to thank President Tsai and the people of Taiwan for helping keep us healthy and safe as we work to feed the world and protect those who are most vulnerable.”

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) today led 37 Senators in advocating for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to increase telephone-based, or audio-only, telehealth reimbursements to equal other audio-visual telehealth and in-person visitation reimbursements.

Many Americans do not have access to reliable broadband, making it nearly impossible to use video-sharing to receive telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead they must turn to telephone-based telehealth services. However, health care professionals who provide these services are not receiving the same reimbursement for their telephone-based consultations as they would for visual or in-person consultations.

“As COVID-19 continues to spread in communities across the United States, millions of people are following directives to stay home and avoid risking exposure to the virus,” the Senators wrote. “In conjunction with those directives, health care providers have shifted to offering audio-visual telehealth services to patients, so that patients can receive evaluations, medical consultations, checkups and other services in their own homes, instead of risking exposure at a health care facility. However, for instances where a patient has no home access to internet, broadband or other cell phone services, physicians and other providers are furnishing these medical consultations through audio-only formats, such as telephone calls.”

Senators Moran, Hyde-Smith, Shaheen, and Manchin were joined by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Bernie Sanders (I-Ver.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Kamala Harris (D-Cal.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Boozman (R-Ark.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Angus King (I-Maine), Patrick Leahy (D-Ver.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.).

This letter is supported by: American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, American College of Physicians, American College of Rheumatology, American College of Surgeons, American Gastroenterological Association, American Geriatrics Society, American Medical Group Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, American Telemedicine Association, Endocrine Society, Medical Group Management Association, and the Primary Care Collaborative.

The full letter can be found here or below.  

Dear Secretary Azar and Administrator Verma:

We write to draw your urgent attention to concerns that we have heard from health care providers and patients regarding Medicare’s coverage and payment rules during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus or “COVID-19.” In order to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries in all regions of the country can have access to health care services during this time, we strongly urge you to address Medicare payment differences that exist between audio-visual telehealth services and audio-only medical consultations.

As COVID-19 continues to spread in communities across the United States, millions of people are following directives to stay home and avoid risking exposure to the virus. In conjunction with those directives, health care providers have shifted to offering audio-visual telehealth services to patients, so that patients can receive evaluations, medical consultations, checkups and other services in their own homes, instead of risking exposure at a health care facility. However, for instances where a patient has no home access to internet, broadband or other cell phone services, physicians and other providers are furnishing these medical consultations through audio-only formats, such as telephone calls. 

Access to audio-only telephone-based services during this time is not only important for Medicare beneficiaries with limited means, but is also vital for Medicare patients who live in communities that lack sufficient broadband and internet connectivity. For these communities, telehealth services provided through internet based visual platforms are simply not an option.

While we appreciate the effort of CMS to provide expanded coverage for audio-only services, the current reimbursement rates for audio-only services are not sufficient to make audio-only medical consultations a viable option for many health care providers. While audio-only consultations may not be appropriate in all clinical circumstances, providers across the country who have been able to conduct successful audio-only telephone visits with patients when clinically appropriate. We support their efforts to continue offering medical care to our most at-risk populations in their homes and ask that CMS make this care sustainable for providers by ensuring sufficient payment for telephone consultations when clinically appropriate during the COVID-19 outbreak. Your access to healthcare should not be determined by your access to broadband when other approaches are available. 

In light of this critical need to better support the provision of audio-only services for Medicare beneficiaries who may lack access to broadband or have limitations that prevent the use of audio-visual telehealth services during the COVID-19 outbreak, we urge you to:

1. Increase Medicare payment rates for telephone-based evaluation and management (E/M) codes (99441-99443) to bring payments for these codes equal to Medicare’s established in person visit codes (99212-99214) that will ensure that patients without advanced video-sharing capabilities are able to get care virtually, while helping to sustain physician practices.  

2. Immediately provide guidance to Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to ensure that recent CMS guidance and rules are followed appropriately to enable the payment of telephone E/M claims.

3. Provide Members of Congress with a briefing on your efforts to address this issue by May 8, 2020.

We appreciate recent steps taken to expand telehealth for health care providers. Expanding access to telehealth services has been vital to our collective effort to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. In order to maximize the potential of at-home care during this public health emergency, CMS must provide adequate payment for audio-only services, in addition to audio-visual telehealth services. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) sent a letter to Lieutenant General Ronald Place, director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), urging his strong support for allowing the dependents of military service members to have proper access to Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Children of servicemembers who require behavioral health care, often those with forms of autism, normally travel to clinics and facilities to see Certified Behavioral Health Analysts and other clinicians. The recent pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders have limited the availability of care and forced parents to care for their children with limited support from certified clinicians.

The letter specifically requests that DHA make ABA care available through the use of telehealth. This will allow dependents who rely on the care and expertise of certified behavioral health care professionals to interact directly with their provider and receive the guidance they need.

“We are living in uncertain times, and extraordinary measures must be taken to provide for the quality and timely care of our servicemembers and their children,” wrote Sen. Moran. “I urge you to review the ABA Telemedicine policy and allow TRICARE beneficiaries to receive ABA telehealth care for the duration of the COVID-19 presidential emergency declaration that was issued on March 13, 2020.”

“The National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) thanks Sen. Moran for shining light on this critical issue of telehealth,” said retired Brig. Gen. J. Roy Robinson, the NGAUS President. “Our current crisis continues to expose gaps in protections to Guardsmen while on the frontlines of COVID-19. We're hopeful that with the help of leaders like Senator Moran, we will solve as many of these problems as we can to help our brave servicemembers and their families as they respond to this national crisis.”

“As we navigate the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Tricare for Kids Coalition strongly encourages the Defense Health Agency (DHA) to consider the unique needs of kids and to implement flexibility in policies and processes, including making telehealth available for all care for which it is possible, to ensure safe and uninterrupted access to all health care, supports and services necessary for our military children,” said Kara Tollett Oakley, Chair of Tricare for Kids Coalition. “We commend Senator Moran’s work on behalf of military children and look forward to working with him to ensure their unique needs are met, and that families have access to all the services and care their children require.”

The full letter can be found here or below.

Lieutenant General Ronald PlaceDirector, Defense Health Agency

7700 Arlington Boulevard, Suite 5101

Falls Church, VA

22042-5101

Dear Lieutenant General Place:

I write to express my strong support for providing military members and their dependents with proper treatment for Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of our military members utilize TRICARE benefits that provide ABA therapy to their children. ABA therapy programs are designed to increase language and communication skills, improve attention and mitigate behavioral challenges. Typically, military children receive ABA from a board-certified behavior analyst in a brick and mortar location.

Military members in Kansas have contacted me to share their frustration with being denied telehealth services for ABA during the COVID-19 crisis. Like most states, Kansas is currently under a shelter in place policy, which is preventing children from accessing their typical in-person sessions. The Defense Health Agency has responded to this issue by allowing Board Certified Behavioral Analysts and assistant behavior analysts to provide unlimited guidance to parents and caregivers, but disallows a TRICARE beneficiary from receiving ABA therapy through telehealth.

I urge you to review the ABA Telemedicine policy and allow TRICARE beneficiaries to receive ABA telehealth care for the duration of the COVID-19 presidential emergency declaration that was issued on March 13, 2020. We are living in uncertain times, and extraordinary measures must be taken to provide for the quality and timely care of our service members and their children.

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