Protecting Access to Post-COVID–19 Telehealth Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7663 To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive or modify application of Medi- care requirements with respect to telehealth services during any emer- gency period, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 16, 2020 Mr. THOMPSON of California (for himself, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive or modify application of Medicare requirements with re- spect to telehealth services during any emergency period, 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 ‘‘Protecting Access to 4 Post-COVID–19 Telehealth Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7663.IH H7663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7663 IH SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH 1 AND HUMAN SERVICES TO WAIVE OR MODIFY 2 APPLICATION OF MEDICARE REQUIREMENTS 3 WITH RESPECT TO TELEHEALTH SERVICES. 4 (a) SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY TO TEMPORARILY 5 WAIVE OR MODIFY MEDICARE REQUIREMENTS WITH RE- 6 SPECT TO TELEHEALTH SERVICES FURNISHED DURING 7 ANY EMERGENCY PERIOD.—Section 1135 of the Social 8 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5) is amended by adding 9 at the end the following new subsection: 10 ‘‘(h) WAIVER OR MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN RE- 11 QUIREMENTS WITH RESPECT TO TELEHEALTH SERV- 12 ICES.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 14 provision of this section, during the period described 15 paragraph (2), the Secretary may waive or modify 16 any requirement with respect to a telehealth service 17 payable under section 1834(m)(1) for such period. 18 ‘‘(2) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—For purposes of 19 paragraph (1), the period described in this para- 20 graph is the period— 21 ‘‘(A) beginning on the first day of— 22 ‘‘(i) an emergency or disaster declared 23 by the President pursuant to the National 24 Emergencies Act or the Robert T. Stafford 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7663.IH H7663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7663 IH Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 1 Act; or 2 ‘‘(ii) a public health emergency de- 3 clared by the Secretary pursuant to section 4 319 of the Public Health Service Act; and 5 ‘‘(B) ending on the day that is 90 days 6 after the last day of an emergency, disaster, or 7 public health emergency described in subpara- 8 graph (A).’’. 9 (b) REPORT.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 11 after the last day of the period described in section 12 1135(g)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 13 1320b–5(g)(1)(B)), the Secretary of Health and 14 Human Services, acting through the Administrator 15 of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 16 shall submit to Congress a report, with respect to 17 telehealth services (as defined in subparagraph (F) 18 of such section 1834(m)(4) (42 U.S.C. 19 1395m(m)(4)) to which a waiver or modification is 20 applied pursuant to section 1135 of such Act (42 21 U.S.C. 1320b–5), on— 22 (A) the number of eligible telehealth indi- 23 viduals (as defined in subparagraph (A) of sec- 24 tion 1834(m)(4) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7663.IH H7663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7663 IH 1395m(m)(4)) during the period described in 1 paragraph (2) and how frequently such individ- 2 uals received telehealth services during such pe- 3 riod (including the number of eligible telehealth 4 individuals identified by racial and ethnic popu- 5 lations); 6 (B) the number of physicians or practi- 7 tioners that furnished a telehealth service dur- 8 ing the period described in paragraph (2) and 9 how frequently physicians or practitioners fur- 10 nished such a service during such period; 11 (C) the amount payable under title XVIII 12 of such Act for telehealth services furnished 13 during the period described in paragraph (2); 14 (D) an assessment of benefits to eligible 15 telehealth individuals who received telehealth 16 services during the period described in para- 17 graph (2); and 18 (E) the most common barriers to eligible 19 telehealth individuals receiving and physicians 20 or practitioners furnishing telehealth services 21 during the period described in paragraph (2). 22 (2) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—For purposes of 23 paragraph (1), the period described in this para- 24 graph is the period— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7663.IH H7663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7663 IH (A) beginning on the first day of the emer- 1 gency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) 2 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g)(1)(B); and 3 (B) ending on the day that is 90 days 4 after the last day such emergency period. 5 SEC. 3. RURAL HEALTH CLINICS AND FEDERALLY QUALI- 6 FIED HEALTH CENTERS. 7 (a) EXPANSION OF DISTANT SITES.—Section 8 1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)) 9 is amended— 10 (1) in the first sentence of paragraph (1)— 11 (A) by striking ‘‘or a practitioner (de- 12 scribed in section 1842(b)(18)(C))’’ and insert- 13 ing ‘‘, a practitioner (described in section 14 1842(b)(18)(C)), a federally qualified health 15 center, or a rural health clinic’’; and 16 (B) by striking ‘‘or practitioner’’ and in- 17 serting ‘‘, practitioner, federally qualified health 18 center, or rural health clinic’’; 19 (2) in paragraph (2)(A)— 20 (A) by inserting ‘‘or to a federally qualified 21 health center or rural health clinic that serves 22 as a distant site’’ after ‘‘a distant site’’; and 23 (B) by striking ‘‘such physician or practi- 24 tioner’’ and inserting ‘‘such physician, practi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7663.IH H7663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7663 IH tioner, federally qualified health center, or rural 1 health clinic’’; and 2 (3) in paragraph (4)— 3 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 4 ‘‘and includes a federally qualified health center 5 or rural health clinic that furnishes a telehealth 6 service to an eligible individual’’ before the pe- 7 riod at the end; and 8 (B) in subparagraph (F), by adding at the 9 end the following new clause: 10 ‘‘(iii) INCLUSION OF RURAL HEALTH 11 CLINIC SERVICES AND FEDERALLY QUALI- 12 FIED HEALTH CENTER SERVICES FUR- 13 NISHED USING TELEHEALTH.—For pur- 14 poses of this subparagraph, the term ‘tele- 15 health services’ includes a rural health 16 clinic service or federally qualified health 17 center service that is furnished using tele- 18 health to the extent that payment codes 19 corresponding to services identified by the 20 Secretary under clause (i) or (ii) are listed 21 on the corresponding claim for such rural 22 health clinic service or Federally qualified 23 health center service.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7663.IH H7663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7663 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply to services furnished on or after 2 January 1, 2021. 3 SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF RESTRICTIONS RELATING TO 4 TELEHEALTH SERVICES. 5 (a) ELIMINATION OF GEOGRAPHIC RESTRICTIONS OF 6 ORIGINATING SITES.—Section 1834(m)(4)(C)(i) of the 7 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)(4)(C)(i)) is 8 amended— 9 (1) by striking ‘‘the service is furnished via a 10 telecommunications system and only if such site is 11 located—’’ and inserting ‘‘the service—’’; 12 (2) by redesignating subclauses (I) through 13 (III) as items (aa) through (cc), respectively, and 14 moving the margins two ems to the right; and 15 (3) by inserting before item (aa), as redesig- 16 nated by paragraph (2), the following new sub- 17 clauses: 18 ‘‘(I) is furnished via a tele- 19 communications system; and 20 ‘‘(II) for the period beginning on 21 the date of the enactment of this sub- 22 clause and ending on December 31, 23 2020, only if such site is located—’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7663.IH H7663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7663 IH (b) ELIMINATION OF RESTRICTIONS IN WHICH 1 TELEHEALTH SERVICES MAY BE FURNISHED IN THE 2 HOME.—Section 1834(m)(4)(C)(ii)(X) of the Social Secu- 3 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)(4)(C)(i)(X) is amended to 4 read as follows:. 5 ‘‘(X)(aa) For the period begin- 6 ning on the date of the enactment of 7 this subclause and ending on Decem- 8 ber 31, 2020, the home of an indi- 9 vidual but only for purposes of section 10 1881(b)(3)(B) or telehealth services 11 described in paragraph (7). 12 ‘‘(bb) For the period beginning 13 on or after January 1, 2021, the 14 home of an individual.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:55 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7663.IH H7663 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS