The Congressional Digital Health Caucus is a bipartisan group of U.S. House members, founded in February 2024 by Representatives Troy Balderson (R-OH) and Robin Kelly (D-IL), that works to educate lawmakers about health technology and push for policies that integrate digital tools into the healthcare system. It has no legislative authority of its own. Instead, it briefs policymakers, coordinates bipartisan strategy, and rallies support around specific bills on telehealth, health data, artificial intelligence, and related issues.1Congresswoman Robin Kelly. Representatives Robin Kelly and Troy Balderson Announce the Congressional Digital Health Caucus
Who Runs It
Balderson and Kelly announced the caucus on February 1, 2024, and serve as its co-chairs. Balderson, who represents Ohio’s 12th District, has framed the group around closing the gap between urban and rural care. At the launch he said quality healthcare “has too often been isolated to areas around bigger cities,” and that digital tools can “close the urban-rural divide and make quality care available to all, regardless of zip code.”2U.S. Congressman Troy Balderson. Balderson, Kelly Launch Congressional Digital Health Caucus
Kelly, who represents Illinois’s 2nd District and chairs the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, brings an equity focus, saying the caucus should ensure that “historically marginalized communities have equal access to these groundbreaking advancements.”1Congresswoman Robin Kelly. Representatives Robin Kelly and Troy Balderson Announce the Congressional Digital Health Caucus Membership beyond the two co-chairs is voluntary and open to any House member. The caucus has not published a full roster.
What the Caucus Does
Congressional caucuses are informal and voluntary. They sit outside the formal committee structure, so they don’t draft or vote on bills. Their influence comes from three places: hosting briefings that shape how members and staff think about a topic, coordinating legislative strategy across parties, and signaling priorities to the outside world.
The caucus’s most visible activity is the policy briefing. Working with groups like the Consumer Technology Association and AdvaMed, it has run sessions for congressional staff on specific digital health topics. One confirmed briefing focused on remote patient monitoring, which CTA described as the second briefing it had co-hosted with the caucus, with more planned.3Consumer Technology Association. CTA and AdvaMed Host Congressional Digital Health Caucus Briefing on Remote Patient Monitoring These sessions bring industry panelists and subject-matter experts in front of staff who are being asked to write or evaluate technical legislation.
Beyond briefings, caucuses like this one typically use “Dear Colleague” letters to build support for or opposition to specific bills. These letters are a standard House tool, functioning as internal persuasion campaigns where members lay out a position and ask colleagues to sign on.4Congressional Research Service. “Dear Colleague” Letters in the House of Representatives The co-chairs also use op-eds and public statements to flag legislative priorities to the health technology industry.
Policy Priorities
Telehealth Access and Reimbursement
Telehealth is the caucus’s most prominent issue. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, Medicare temporarily waived restrictions on where patients could receive telehealth visits and which providers could bill for them. Congress has extended many of those flexibilities, but most are still temporary: as of 2026, Medicare beneficiaries can receive telehealth services from anywhere in the country through December 31, 2027, and an expanded range of practitioners can bill for those visits through the same date. A few changes are permanent, including the removal of frequency limits on certain inpatient and nursing facility telehealth visits starting January 1, 2026, and the permanent lifting of geographic and facility-type restrictions on behavioral health telehealth under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.5Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Telehealth FAQ The caucus argues for making more of these flexibilities permanent rather than relying on year-by-year extensions.
Cross-State Licensing
A doctor licensed in one state generally cannot treat a patient located in another state without also being licensed there. Some states have joined interstate licensure compacts, and a few have telehealth-specific registration pathways, but the landscape is fragmented.6U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Licensing Across State Lines The caucus has flagged this as one of the biggest structural barriers to scaling virtual care, particularly for patients in rural areas who may need specialists based elsewhere.
Health Data Interoperability
The caucus also works on whether different health IT systems can share data with each other. Federal law already addresses part of this: the 21st Century Cures Act established information-blocking rules under 45 CFR Part 171, which prohibit providers, health IT developers, and health information networks from unreasonably interfering with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information.7Federal Register. 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Data exchange between systems remains inconsistent in practice, and the caucus supports stronger interoperability standards so patient records can move with the patient.
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
AI is increasingly used in clinical settings for diagnostic imaging analysis, risk prediction, and treatment recommendations. The regulatory picture is still developing. The FDA’s approach to AI-enabled medical devices continues to evolve, and industry groups have pushed for national standards. A recurring concern is that without a coordinated federal approach, a patchwork of state-level AI rules could slow adoption and create compliance problems for companies operating across state lines.8Healthcare IT News. Stakeholders React to White House National AI Policy Framework On this issue the caucus focuses more on keeping members informed than on championing a single bill.
Privacy and HIPAA
HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules set the federal baseline for protecting health information, balancing patient protections against the need for data to flow for treatment, payment, and public health purposes.9U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule – Section: Introduction HIPAA predates wearables, consumer health apps, and AI-driven analytics, and much of the data those tools generate falls outside its scope. The caucus’s discussions include how to modernize privacy protections to match the technology.
Why a Caucus and Not a Committee
Standing committees carry enormous portfolios. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over health policy, also handles energy, telecommunications, and environmental regulation. Digital health issues can be crowded out by higher-profile fights. The caucus gives a subset of members a dedicated space to build expertise, coordinate strategy across the aisle, and keep digital health on the agenda between the big floor votes. For industry stakeholders and patient advocates, it also creates a clear point of contact: rather than pitching dozens of individual offices, a group can engage members who already work on the issue.