S. 1261 · 119th Congress

CONNECT for Health Act of 2025

Introduced on Apr 2, 2025 by Brian Schatz (D-HI). 73 cosponsors, 37 of them from another party. Latest action (Apr 2, 2025): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Apr 2, 2025
Cosponsors
73
37 from the other party
Policy area
Health
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand access to telehealth services, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, Apr 2, 2025). Public domain.

Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2025 or the CONNECT for Health Act of 2025

This bill expands coverage of telehealth services under Medicare.

Among other provisions, the bill

  • permanently removes geographic restrictions on originating sites (i.e., the location of the beneficiary) and allows the home of the beneficiary to serve as the originating site for all services;
  • permanently allows federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as the distant site (i.e., the location of the health care practitioner); and
  • allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to generally waive coverage restrictions during any public health emergency.

Additionally, the CMS must post certain information about the effects of Medicare telehealth services on its website, including information about utilization, costs, and the outcome of services. The CMS must also (1) provide resources to health care professionals about the requirements for furnishing telehealth services under Medicare, including with respect to payment, patient privacy, and support for underserved populations; and (2) ensure certain quality measures are applied to telehealth services.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Brian SchatzD-HISponsor

Democrats · 34

Independents · 2

Republicans · 37

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Apr 2, 2025Introduced in Senate
  2. Apr 2, 2025 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION10 reports
    $36M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION$1.2M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  2. VITAS Healthcare Corporation10 reports
    $1.1M reported (all issues)
  3. NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR CARE AT HOME9 reports
    $330K reported (all issues)
  4. AMERICA'S ESSENTIAL HOSPITALS6 reports
    $3.5M reported (all issues)
  5. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PHYSICIAN ASSOCIATES6 reports
    $970K reported (all issues)
  6. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSE PRACTITIONERS6 reports
    $2.5M reported (all issues)
  7. AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY6 reports
    $3.4M reported (all issues)
  8. AMERICAN COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS6 reports
    $2.8M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS$92K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  9. ASSOCIATION FOR CLINICAL ONCOLOGY6 reports
    $1.8M reported (all issues)
  10. Alliance for Connected Care6 reports
    $1.2M reported (all issues)
  11. American Academy of Pediatrics6 reports
    $2.1M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS$442.6K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  12. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RURAL HEALTH CLINICS6 reports
    $600K reported (all issues)
  13. National Association of Community Health Centers6 reports
    $1.2M reported (all issues)
  14. National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners6 reports
    $144K reported (all issues)
  15. National League for Nursing6 reports
    $171K reported (all issues)
  16. THE ALS ASSOCIATION6 reports
    $180K reported (all issues)
  17. TRINITY HEALTH6 reports
    $1.4M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: TRINITY HEALTH$226.3K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 95%
  18. The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (AOTA)6 reports
    $1.1M reported (all issues)
  19. Tourette Association of America6 reports
    $330K reported (all issues)
  20. AMERICA'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS, INC. (AHIP)5 reports
    $20.7M reported (all issues)
  21. Amazon.com Services LLC5 reports
    $22.2M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC$285.9K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  22. American Heart Association5 reports
    $1.6M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION, INC.$333.7K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  23. CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION5 reports
    $5.6M reported (all issues)
  24. Included Health (Formerly Grand Rounds Health)5 reports
    $50K reported (all issues)
  25. National Alliance on Mental Illness5 reports
    $70K reported (all issues)
  26. THE SOCIETY OF THORACIC SURGEONS5 reports
    $1.1M reported (all issues)
  27. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY4 reports
    $1.2M reported (all issues)
  28. AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PHYSICIAN SERVICES, INC4 reports
    $743.1K reported (all issues)
  29. AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS4 reports
    $339.7K reported (all issues)
  30. AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RHEUMATOLOGY4 reports
    $300K reported (all issues)
  31. AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION4 reports
    $956.5K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION$645K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  32. Alzheimer's Association4 reports
    $4.6M reported (all issues)
  33. American Medical Association4 reports
    $20.3M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION$371K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  34. American Psychological Association Services Inc.(FKA American Psychological Assn4 reports
    $1.7M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION$710.8K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  35. CAMBIA HEALTH SOLUTIONS INC.4 reports
    $2.6M reported (all issues)
  36. Cape Cod Healthcare4 reports
    $120K reported (all issues)
  37. I AM ALS4 reports
    $110K reported (all issues)
  38. MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SOCIETY4 reports
    $200K reported (all issues)
  39. NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION4 reports
    $290K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION, INCAI match · 100%
  40. National Alliance for Care at Home (formerly Natl Assn for Home Care & Hospice)4 reports
    $2.8M reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 6, 2026 · loaded Oct 6, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 6, 2026 · loaded Oct 6, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.