National Telehealth Strategy and Data Advancement Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5763 To amend the Public Health Service Act to advance telehealth by developing a plan for adoption and coordination by Federal agencies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 5, 2020 Mr. GIANFORTE (for himself and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to advance tele- health by developing a plan for adoption and coordination by Federal agencies, 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 ‘‘National Telehealth 4 Strategy and Data Advancement Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. RECOMMENDATIONS ON FRAMEWORK TO ADVANCE 6 TELEHEALTH. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 330I of the Public Health 8 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c–14) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5763.IH H5763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5763 IH (1) in subsection (a)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1) to read as follows: 2 ‘‘(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 3 the Director of the Office for the Advancement of 4 Telehealth as established under subsection (c).’’; and 5 (B) in paragraph (7), by inserting ‘‘Such 6 term includes connected care.’’ after ‘‘health.’’; 7 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘under section 8 301’’ and inserting ‘‘under subsection (d)’’; 9 (3) in subsection (c)— 10 (A) in paragraph (1)— 11 (i) by striking ‘‘Health Resources and 12 Services Administration’’ and inserting 13 ‘‘Office of the Secretary’’; and 14 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(referred to in this 15 section as the ‘Office’)’’ after ‘‘Telehealth’’; 16 and 17 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘under 18 section 301’’ and inserting ‘‘under subsection 19 (d)’’; 20 (4) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘, in a publi- 21 cation of the Health Resources and Services Admin- 22 istration,’’ and inserting ‘‘on a publicly accessible 23 website of the Department of Health and Human 24 Services, a’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5763.IH H5763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5763 IH (5) by striking subsection (s) and inserting the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(s) PLAN AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO ADVANCE 3 TELEHEALTH.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 5 ‘‘(A) not later than one year after the date 6 of the enactment of this Act develop a plan for 7 the adoption, advancement, and coordination of 8 telehealth by Federal agencies; 9 ‘‘(B) update every two years the plan de- 10 veloped under subparagraph (A) and make rec- 11 ommendations to improve access to telehealth, 12 coordination of telehealth by Federal agencies, 13 and health outcomes with respect to the use of 14 telehealth as a means to deliver health care 15 services as the Secretary determines to be ap- 16 propriate; 17 ‘‘(C) standardize Federal telehealth grant 18 processes and data reporting to build a com- 19 prehensive evidence base in order to enable 20 high-quality and effective use of telehealth to 21 deliver health care services; 22 ‘‘(D) provide assistance to regional and na- 23 tional entities to enable greater use of tele- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5763.IH H5763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5763 IH health in health care delivery by individuals, 1 health care providers, cities, and States; 2 ‘‘(E) provide Federal governance and over- 3 sight of Federal expenditures on telehealth and 4 broadband that facilitate the delivery of tele- 5 health services; and 6 ‘‘(F) ensure information sharing, cross- 7 Federal collaboration, and accountability across 8 all Federal agencies. 9 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The plan under 10 paragraph (1)(A) shall include recommendations to 11 address each of the following: 12 ‘‘(A) Achieving a standardized application 13 system for Federal telehealth grants across the 14 Department of Health and Human Services, the 15 Department of Agriculture, the Department of 16 Defense, and other agencies as the Secretary 17 determines to be appropriate. 18 ‘‘(B) Establishing a publicly available data- 19 base of all telehealth grants across Federal 20 agencies. 21 ‘‘(C) Establishing a standardized set of 22 outcome measures with a focus on cost and 23 quality of care delivered via telehealth. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5763.IH H5763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5763 IH ‘‘(D) Requiring recipients of Federal tele- 1 health grants to report standardized outcomes 2 measures. 3 ‘‘(E) Standardizing data collection and re- 4 porting across recipients of Federal telehealth 5 grants. 6 ‘‘(F) Developing a public repository for 7 data reported for research purposes through the 8 standardized set of outcome measures under 9 subparagraph (C) by recipients of Federal tele- 10 health grants. 11 ‘‘(G) Protecting information disclosed in 12 subparagraph (F) by applying the provisions of 13 the HIPAA privacy regulation (as defined in 14 section 1180(b)(3) of the Social Security Act 15 (42 U.S.C. 1320d–9)) to the entity receiving 16 and disclosing such information in the same 17 manner as such provisions would apply to such 18 information if received or disclosed by a covered 19 entity (as such term is defined for purposes of 20 such regulation). 21 ‘‘(H) Incentivizing research on reported 22 data to build a strong base of evidence on the 23 impacts of telehealth on cost and quality of 24 care. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5763.IH H5763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5763 IH ‘‘(I) Additional priority target areas as de- 1 termined appropriate by the Secretary. 2 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In developing rec- 3 ommendations under subparagraphs (A) through (E) 4 of paragraph (2), the Secretary shall consult with 5 the following individuals or their designees: 6 ‘‘(A) The heads of each agency, division, 7 element, or organization under the Department 8 of Health and Human Services. 9 ‘‘(B) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 10 ‘‘(C) The Secretary of Defense. 11 ‘‘(D) The Director of the Office of Man- 12 agement and Budget. 13 ‘‘(E) The Comptroller General of the 14 United States. 15 ‘‘(F) The Chairman of the Federal Com- 16 munications Commission. 17 ‘‘(G) The Chairman of the Federal Trade 18 Commission. 19 ‘‘(H) The Director of the National Insti- 20 tute of Standards and Technology. 21 ‘‘(I) The Director of the National Science 22 Foundation. 23 ‘‘(J) The Administrator of the National 24 Aeronautics and Space Administration. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5763.IH H5763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5763 IH ‘‘(K) The head of any other Federal agen- 1 cy that the Secretary determines to be appro- 2 priate. 3 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.—Not later 4 than 3 months after developing the plan required 5 under paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary shall publish 6 in the Federal Register a notice providing for an op- 7 portunity for the public to comment on the rec- 8 ommendations developed under subparagraphs (A) 9 through (E) of paragraph (2). 10 ‘‘(5) REPORTS.— 11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 12 submit to Congress a biennial report on Federal 13 expenditures on telehealth and the progress of 14 agencies adopting and effectively using tele- 15 health. 16 ‘‘(B) ELEMENTS OF REPORT.—Each re- 17 port shall include the following: 18 ‘‘(i) An update on Federal invest- 19 ments in telehealth. 20 ‘‘(ii) An assessment of the percentage 21 of the costs of health care services deliv- 22 ered via telehealth that are paid using 23 Federal funds. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5763.IH H5763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5763 IH ‘‘(iii) An update on efforts to improve 1 access to telehealth. 2 ‘‘(t) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 3 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec- 4 tion— 5 ‘‘(1) for grants under subsection (d)(1), 6 $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 7 2025; 8 ‘‘(2) for grants under subsection (d)(2), 9 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 10 2025; and 11 ‘‘(3) for the activities described in subsection 12 (s), $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 13 through 2025.’’. 14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 15 330K(b)(1) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 16 254c–16(b)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘Health Resources 17 and Services Administration’’ and inserting ‘‘Office of the 18 Secretary’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5763.IH H5763 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS