As an American Heart Association/American Stroke Association You're the Cure advocate, I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor the Rural Telemedicine Enhancing Community Health (TECH) Act of 2009 (S. 2741).

About 795,000 people experience a stroke each year in the United States − and minutes matter when treating stroke. Regrettably, a number of barriers, including long distances to hospitals capable of treating stroke and a shortage of neurologists, prevent most patients from receiving the immediate care that is needed to be most effective and reduce disability. As a result of these and other barriers, only 3-5% of patients receive the treatment recommended by the latest scientific guidelines for acute stroke.

Fortunately, the use of telemedicine in the treatment of stroke -- now commonly referred to as "telestroke" care − has shown great promise in improving patient access to recommended stroke treatments in rural and other "neurologically underserved" areas.

Despite the benefits of stroke telemedicine, there are still a number of barriers to effective telestroke implementation. The Rural TECH Act of 2009 would address a number of these barriers and consequently help make telestroke care more widely available, including by:

•Requiring Medicare to reimburse for stroke telehealth services that originate in urban and suburban areas, as well as in rural areas.
•Establishing a pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of using telehealth to provide physical, occupational, and speech therapy to stroke patients.
•Streamlining the credentialing process for telemedicine practitioners participating in Medicare.

Thank you for your consideration of the Rural TECH Act of 2009. I hope I can count on your co-sponsorship of this bill to improve patients' access to appropriate medical care provided via telehealth.