Statement from President and CEO Mike Slubowski on Telehealth Urging Congress to Pass the Connect for Health Act

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has become a critical access point to care, including reaching patients who face barriers to in-person provider visits, highlighting the impact telehealth may have on health equity. Trinity Health knows patients expect this convenience and safety to continue and is investing in the technology infrastructure necessary to expand telehealth and interoperability. Interoperability in health care is critical to improve care coordination, quality and patient safety.

Trinity Health is partnering with Epic to build a single unified platform that will streamline electronic health records across our 22-state footprint. This transformative initiative is called "TogetherCare" as it combines all patient health information, creating a single, comprehensive health record across our entire system. Patients will also have a single, robust portal that allows them to access to their medical information, message their providers, obtain health and social service information, pay bills, schedule telehealth visits and make appointments from wherever they are.

Implementation of TogetherCare has been sequenced across Trinity Health, with the first implementation going live in January 2020. This launch included 9 hospitals, more than 100 physician offices, and 29,000 end users. It was the largest single go-live in Epic's history. The most recent TogetherCare go-live took place Saturday in Albany, N.Y. Three other Trinity Health communities have been using Epic’s electronic medical record and portal for several years and will also be combined onto this unified platform. We are working hard to bring TogetherCare to all Trinity Health patients.

Unfortunately, the regulatory flexibilities that permitted telehealth transformation are temporary and—absent action from policymakers—patients stand to lose valuable access to many telehealth services once the public health emergency is over.

I urge Congress to maintain key flexibilities after the pandemic, including permanently removing geographic and originating site requirements. The recently reintroduced bipartisan Connect for Health Act (S.1512/H.R. 2903) would make significant progress toward this goal and would also expand telehealth for emergency medical care and waive telehealth restrictions during future emergencies.

Health systems are innovating to meet patient expectations, Congress should remove barriers that impede efforts to improve health.

About Trinity Health


Trinity Health is one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery systems in the nation, serving diverse communities that include more than 30 million people across 22 states. We advocate for public policies that promote Care for the Common Good including expanding health care coverage and care, investing in public health, paying for high-value care, and improving the health of communities. For more information, visit https://www.trinity-health.org/about-us/