HEAT Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4854 To provide payments for home health services furnished via visual or audio telecommunication systems during an emergency period. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 23 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide payments for home health services furnished via visual or audio telecommunication systems during an emergency period. 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 ‘‘Home Health Emer- 4 gency Access to Telehealth Act’’ or the ‘‘HEAT Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF PAYMENTS FOR HOME HEALTH 6 SERVICES FURNISHED VIA VISUAL OR AUDIO 7 TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS DURING AN 8 EMERGENCY PERIOD. 9 (a) WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4854.IS S4854 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4854 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The first sentence of section 1 1135(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 2 1320b–5(b)) is amended— 3 (A) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 4 the end; 5 (B) in paragraph (8), by striking the pe- 6 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7 (C) by adding the following new para- 8 graph: 9 ‘‘(9) in the case of home health services fur- 10 nished in an emergency area (or portion of such an 11 area) during any portion of any emergency period 12 (as those terms are defined in subsection (g)(1)(C)), 13 the provisions of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of sec- 14 tion 1895(e)(1), as determined appropriate by the 15 Secretary.’’. 16 (2) DEFINITIONS OF EMERGENCY AREA; EMER- 17 GENCY PERIOD.—Section 1135(g)(1) of the Social 18 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g)(1)) is amend- 19 ed— 20 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sub- 21 paragraph (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs 22 (B) and (C)’’; and 23 (B) by adding at the end the following new 24 subparagraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4854.IS S4854 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4854 IS ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL EXCEPTION.—For pur- 1 poses of subsection (b)(9), an ‘emergency area’ 2 is a geographical area in which, and an ‘emer- 3 gency period’ is the period during which, there 4 exists a public health emergency declared by the 5 Secretary pursuant to section 319 of the Public 6 Health Service Act.’’. 7 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 1895(e) of the Social 8 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395fff(e)) is amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Nothing’’ 10 and inserting ‘‘Subject to paragraph (2), nothing’’; 11 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para- 12 graph (3); and 13 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol- 14 lowing new paragraph: 15 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR PUBLIC HEALTH EMER- 16 GENCIES.—Nothing in this section shall be con- 17 strued as preventing a home health agency fur- 18 nishing a home health unit of service for which pay- 19 ment is made under the prospective payment system 20 established by this section for such units of service 21 from furnishing services via a video or audio tele- 22 communication system if such services— 23 ‘‘(A) are furnished pursuant to a waiver 24 under section 1135(b)(9); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4854.IS S4854 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4854 IS ‘‘(B) constitute no more than 50 percent of 1 the number of billable visits, consistent with the 2 in-person visit equivalency determination, billed 3 under the 30-day period of care established 4 under section 484.215(f) of title 42, Code of 5 Federal Regulations; 6 ‘‘(C) are furnished to a beneficiary under 7 a plan of care established by a physician or 8 practitioner with whom the beneficiary has an 9 existing care relationship prior to the receipt of 10 home health services that includes home health 11 services to be furnished via a video or audio 12 telecommunication system; and 13 ‘‘(D) such beneficiary consents to receiving 14 home health services via a video or audio tele- 15 communication system.’’. 16 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pre- 18 scribe regulations to apply to home health services 19 furnished pursuant to the amendments made by this 20 Act, which shall become effective no later than 60 21 days after the date of enactment of this Act. The 22 Secretary shall issue an interim final rule, if nec- 23 essary, to comply with the required effective date. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4854.IS S4854 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4854 IS (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In prescribing such reg- 1 ulations, the Secretary may consider including— 2 (A) standards for the content of orders 3 and patient consent for such services; 4 (B) documentation of such services pro- 5 vided and billing units of such services; 6 (C) the nature and level of resources uti- 7 lized for such services provided via video or 8 audio telecommunication systems for purposes 9 of determining equivalency with in-person visits 10 in establishing the payment for such services; 11 and 12 (D) standards to ensure program integrity 13 and prevent the incidence of fraud, waste, and 14 abuse with respect to such services. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4854.IS S4854 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS