Securing a Healthy Future for Rural America

We need to lift rural communities up as places of opportunity, both for this generation and future ones. That work begins by deploying investment and innovation to secure the health of all rural residents. Mayor Pete's rural health policies will:

• Make it easier for patients to be treated at or near their home by investing in telehealth.
• Massively expand coverage of high-speed broadband Internet across the country.
• Help health providers purchase and implement the technology necessary to provide telehealth services by doubling funding for the Federal Communication Commission’s Rural Health Care Program to $1 billion annually.
• Ensure that expansion of telehealth services is accompanied by investments in quality of care.
• Expand the types of care settings that can receive reimbursement for telehealth services. 
• Allow health professionals to get compensated for virtually treating patients at home, including for annual wellness visits, chronic care management, acute visits, and remote patient monitoring.
• Make it easier for a doctor in one state to virtually treat a patient in another by amending licensure for virtual care programs.