Medical Nutrition Therapy Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4504 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the availability of medical nutrition therapy services under the Medicare program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the availability of medical nutrition therapy services under the Medicare program. 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 ‘‘Medical Nutrition 4 Therapy Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. EXPANDING THE AVAILABILITY OF MEDICAL NU- 6 TRITION THERAPY SERVICES UNDER THE 7 MEDICARE PROGRAM. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1861 of the Social Secu- 9 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4504.IS S4504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4504 IS (1) in subsection (s)(2)(V), by striking ‘‘in the 1 case of’’ and all that follows through ‘‘organiza- 2 tions’’; and 3 (2) in subsection (vv)— 4 (A) in paragraph (1)— 5 (i) by striking ‘‘disease management’’ 6 and inserting ‘‘the prevention, manage- 7 ment, or treatment of a disease or condi- 8 tion specified in paragraph (4)’’; 9 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or by a physician as- 10 sistant, nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse 11 specialist (as such terms are defined in 12 subsection (aa)(5)), or, in the case of such 13 services furnished to manage such a dis- 14 ease or condition that is an eating dis- 15 order, by a clinical psychologist (as defined 16 by the Secretary)’’ before the period at the 17 end; and 18 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 19 lowing new sentence: ‘‘Such term shall not 20 include any such services furnished to an 21 individual for the prevention, management, 22 or treatment of a renal disease if such in- 23 dividual is receiving maintenance dialysis 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4504.IS S4504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4504 IS for which payment is made under section 1 1881.’’; and 2 (B) by adding at the end the following new 3 paragraph: 4 ‘‘(4) For purposes of paragraph (1), the diseases and 5 conditions specified in this paragraph are the following: 6 ‘‘(A) Diabetes and prediabetes. 7 ‘‘(B) A renal disease. 8 ‘‘(C) Obesity (as defined for purposes of sub- 9 section (yy)(2)(C) or as otherwise defined by the 10 Secretary). 11 ‘‘(D) Hypertension. 12 ‘‘(E) Dyslipidemia. 13 ‘‘(F) Malnutrition. 14 ‘‘(G) Eating disorders. 15 ‘‘(H) Cancer. 16 ‘‘(I) Celiac disease. 17 ‘‘(J) HIV. 18 ‘‘(K) AIDS. 19 ‘‘(L) Any other disease or condition— 20 ‘‘(i) specified by the Secretary relating to 21 unintentional weight loss; 22 ‘‘(ii) for which the Secretary determines 23 the services described in paragraph (1) to be 24 medically necessary and appropriate for the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4504.IS S4504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4504 IS prevention, management, or treatment of such 1 disease or condition, consistent with any appli- 2 cable recommendations of the United States 3 Preventive Services Task Force; or 4 ‘‘(iii) for which the Secretary determines 5 the services described in paragraph (1) are 6 medically necessary, consistent with either pro- 7 tocols established by registered dietitians or nu- 8 trition professional organizations or with ac- 9 cepted clinical guidelines identified by the Sec- 10 retary.’’. 11 (b) EXCLUSION MODIFICATION.—Section 1862(a)(1) 12 is amended— 13 (1) in subparagraph (O), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 14 the end; 15 (2) in subparagraph (P), by striking the semi- 16 colon at the end and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and 17 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 18 paragraph: 19 ‘‘(Q) in the case of medical nutrition therapy 20 services (as defined in section 1861(vv)), which are 21 not furnished for the prevention, management, or 22 treatment of a disease or condition specified in para- 23 graph (4) of such section;’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4504.IS S4504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4504 IS (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply with respect to items and services 2 furnished on or after January 1, 2021. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4504.IS S4504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS