Physician anesthesiologists have been on the frontlines caring for COVID-19 patients throughout the country, but in New Hampshire physicians have innovated with a Tele-Intensive Care Unit (TeleICU) hub to collaborate with physicians in rural hospitals to ensure infected patients from across the state get critical care expertise at no expense while receiving care close to home. Shown in photo, anesthesiologist Athos Rassias, M.D., works with a beside team at Monadnock Regional Hospital in Peterborough, NH, from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Connected Care Center for TeleHealth TeleICU hub at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A new bill in Washington would permanently expand telehealth services under Medicare and allow patients in rural areas without access to broadband to use audio services, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said.

“It should not have taken a pandemic for Medicare to finally unlock the potential of telehealth services — and now we need to make sure that these vital telehealth services continue to be available to patients long after the COVID-19 pandemic is over,” Shaheen said in a statement.

Shaheen recently introduced the Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act with fellow Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Jerry Moran of Kansas.

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