Expanded Telehealth Access Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2168 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the scope of practitioners eligible for payment for telehealth services under the Medi- care program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 23, 2021 Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SIRES, Ms. TENNEY, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. RUSH, Mr. YOUNG, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. TONKO, Ms. BLUNT ROCH- ESTER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. CARSON, and Mr. O’HALLERAN) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the scope of practitioners eligible for payment for tele- health services under the Medicare program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanded Telehealth 4 Access Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2168.IH H2168 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2168 IH SEC. 2. EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF PRACTITIONERS ELIGI- 1 BLE FOR PAYMENT FOR TELEHEALTH SERV- 2 ICES UNDER MEDICARE. 3 (a) TELEHEALTH PROVIDER PARITY.—Section 4 1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)) 5 is amended— 6 (1) in paragraph (1)— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘described in section 8 1842(b)(18)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘as described in 9 paragraph (4)(E))’’; and 10 (B) by striking ‘‘individual physician or 11 practitioner’’ and inserting ‘‘individual physi- 12 cian or practitioner described in paragraph 13 (4)(E)’’; 14 (2) in paragraph (2)— 15 (A) by striking ‘‘practitioner’’ each place it 16 appears and inserting ‘‘practitioner as described 17 in paragraph (4)(E)’’ each such place; 18 (B) by inserting before ‘‘located at a dis- 19 tant site’’ the following ‘‘(or, in the case of an 20 occupational therapy assistant described in 21 paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(II) or a physical therapist 22 assistant described in paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(III), 23 shall pay with respect to such assistant)’’; and 24 (C) by inserting ‘‘(or, in the case of an oc- 25 cupational therapy assistant described in para- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2168.IH H2168 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2168 IH graph (4)(E)(ii)(II) or a physical therapist as- 1 sistant described in paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(III), 2 the amount that would have been paid under 3 this title with respect to such assistant)’’ after 4 ‘‘would have been paid under this title’’; 5 (3) in paragraph (3)— 6 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or 7 practitioner’’ and inserting ‘‘or practitioner de- 8 scribed in paragraph (4)(E)’’; and 9 (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘de- 10 scribed in subparagraph (C) of such section’’ 11 after ‘‘practitioners’’; and 12 (4) in paragraph (4)— 13 (A) in each of subparagraphs (A) and (C), 14 by inserting ‘‘described in paragraph (4)(E)’’ 15 after ‘‘practitioner’’; and 16 (B) by amending subparagraph (E) to read 17 as follows: 18 ‘‘(E) PRACTITIONER DESCRIBED.—The 19 term ‘practitioner’ means any of the following: 20 ‘‘(i) A practitioner described in section 21 1842(b)(18)(C). 22 ‘‘(ii) With respect to services fur- 23 nished on or after the date of enactment of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2168.IH H2168 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2168 IH the Expanded Telehealth Access Act, a li- 1 censed— 2 ‘‘(I) qualified audiologist (as de- 3 fined in section 1861(ll)(4)(B); 4 ‘‘(II) occupational therapist and 5 occupational therapy assistant under 6 the supervision of an occupational 7 therapist; 8 ‘‘(III) physical therapist and 9 physical therapist assistant under the 10 supervision of a physical therapist; 11 ‘‘(IV) qualified speech-language 12 pathologist (as defined in section 13 1861(ll)(4)(A)); 14 ‘‘(V) facility described in para- 15 graph (8) or (9) of section 1833(a) 16 that furnishes telehealth therapy serv- 17 ices; and 18 ‘‘(VI) any additional health care 19 provider, as specified by the Sec- 20 retary, who participates under this 21 title and furnishes a service that is in- 22 cluded as a telehealth service under 23 this subsection.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2168.IH H2168 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS