Ensuring Telehealth Expansion Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8528 To extend certain provisions relating to telehealth services, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 2, 2020 Mr. WILLIAMS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak- er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju- risdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To extend certain provisions relating to telehealth services, 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 ‘‘Ensuring Telehealth 4 Expansion Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS RELATING TO 6 TELEHEALTH SERVICES. 7 (a) EXEMPTION FOR TELEHEALTH SERVICES.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8528.IH H8528 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8528 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (E) of section 1 223(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 2 amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2021’’ and in- 3 serting ‘‘December 31, 2025’’. 4 (2) CERTAIN COVERAGE DISREGARDED.— 5 Clause (ii) of section 223(c)(1)(B) of the Internal 6 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘De- 7 cember 31, 2021’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 8 2025’’. 9 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 10 by this subsection shall take effect on the date of the 11 enactment of this Act. 12 (b) INCREASING MEDICARE TELEHEALTH FLEXI- 13 BILITIES DURING LIMITED PERIOD.—Section 1135(b)(8) 14 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5(b)(8)) is 15 amended by striking ‘‘during any portion of any emer- 16 gency period’’ and inserting ‘‘during any portion of the 17 period beginning on the first day of the emergency period 18 described in subsection (g)(1)(B) and ending on December 19 31, 2025’’. 20 (c) ENHANCING MEDICARE TELEHEALTH SERVICES 21 FOR FEDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTERS AND 22 RURAL HEALTH CLINICS DURING LIMITED PERIOD; 23 ELIMINATING SPECIAL PAYMENT RULE FOR SUCH SERV- 24 ICES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8528.IH H8528 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8528 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (8) of section 1 1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 2 1395m(m)) is amended to read as follows: 3 ‘‘(8) ENHANCING TELEHEALTH SERVICES FOR 4 FEDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTERS AND 5 RURAL HEALTH CLINICS DURING LIMITED PE- 6 RIOD.—During the period beginning on the first day 7 of the emergency period described in section 8 1135(g)(1)(B) and ending on December 31, 2025— 9 ‘‘(A) the Secretary shall pay for telehealth 10 services that are furnished via a telecommuni- 11 cations system by a Federally qualified health 12 center or a rural health clinic to an eligible tele- 13 health individual enrolled under this part not- 14 withstanding that the Federally qualified health 15 center or rural clinic providing the telehealth 16 service is not at the same location as the bene- 17 ficiary; and 18 ‘‘(B) for purposes of this subsection— 19 ‘‘(i) the term ‘distant site’ includes a 20 Federally qualified health center or rural 21 health clinic that furnishes a telehealth 22 service to an eligible telehealth individual; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8528.IH H8528 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8528 IH ‘‘(ii) the term ‘telehealth services’ in- 1 cludes a rural health clinic service or Fed- 2 erally qualified health center service that is 3 furnished using telehealth to the extent 4 that payment codes corresponding to serv- 5 ices identified by the Secretary under 6 clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (4)(F) are 7 listed on the corresponding claim for such 8 rural health clinic service or Federally 9 qualified health center service.’’. 10 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 11 1834(m)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 12 1395m(m)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘Subject 13 to paragraph (8), the’’ and inserting ‘‘The’’. 14 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 15 by this subsection shall take effect as if included in 16 the enactment of the CARES Act (Public Law 116– 17 136). 18 (d) TEMPORARY WAIVER OF REQUIREMENTS FOR 19 FACE-TO-FACE VISITS BETWEEN HOME DIALYSIS PA- 20 TIENTS AND PHYSICIANS.—Section 1881(b)(3)(B)(iii) of 21 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395rr(b)(3)(B)(iii)) 22 is amended by striking ‘‘during the emergency period de- 23 scribed in section 1135(g)(1)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘during 24 the period beginning on the first day of the emergency 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8528.IH H8528 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8528 IH period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) and ending on 1 December 31, 2025’’. 2 (e) USE OF TELEHEALTH TO CONDUCT FACE-TO- 3 FACE ENCOUNTER PRIOR TO RECERTIFICATION OF ELI- 4 GIBILITY FOR HOSPICE CARE DURING LIMITED PE- 5 RIOD.—Section 1814(a)(7)(D)(i)(II) of the Social Security 6 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395f(a)(7(D)(i)(II)) is amended by strik- 7 ing ‘‘during the emergency period described in section 8 1135(g)(1)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘during the period begin- 9 ning on the first day of the emergency period described 10 in section 1135(g)(1)(B) and ending on December 31, 11 2025’’. 12 (f) ENCOURAGING USE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS 13 SYSTEMS FOR HOME HEALTH SERVICES FURNISHED 14 DURING LIMITED PERIOD.—Section 3707 of the CARES 15 Act (Public Law 116–136) is amended by striking ‘‘during 16 the emergency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) 17 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g)(1)(B))’’ and inserting 18 ‘‘during the period beginning on the first day of the emer- 19 gency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) of such 20 Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g)(1)(B)) and ending on Decem- 21 ber 31, 2025’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8528.IH H8528 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8528 IH SEC. 3. TEMPORARY NONAPPLICATION OF ORIGINATING 1 SITE REQUIREMENTS WITH RESPECT TO 2 TELEHEALTH SERVICES UNDER MEDICARE 3 PROGRAM. 4 Section 1834(m)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 5 U.S.C. 1395m(m)(4)(C)) is amended— 6 (1) in clause (i), by inserting before ‘‘para- 7 graphs (5), (6), and (7)’’ the following: ‘‘clause (iii) 8 and’’; and 9 (2) by adding at the end the following new 10 clause: 11 ‘‘(iii) TEMPORARY NONAPPLICATION 12 OF ORIGINATING SITE REQUIREMENTS.— 13 For the period beginning on the first day 14 of the emergency period described in sec- 15 tion 1135(g)(1)(B) and ending on Decem- 16 ber 31, 2025, the term ‘originating site’ 17 means any site at which the eligible tele- 18 health individual is located at the time the 19 service is furnished via a telecommuni- 20 cations system.’’. 21 SEC. 4. REPORT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL. 22 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 23 submit to Congress— 24 (1) not later than December 31, 2023, a report 25 on the success and limitations of implementing the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8528.IH H8528 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8528 IH statutory provisions amended by sections 2 and 3, 1 including— 2 (A) details of any savings or costs to the 3 Federal Government that are attributable to the 4 implementation of such provisions; and 5 (B) an analysis of how the implementation 6 of such provisions have impacted rural hos- 7 pitals; and 8 (2) not later than December 31, 2025, updates 9 regarding the report described in paragraph (1). 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8528.IH H8528 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS