Expanded Telehealth Access Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8755 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the scope of practitioners eligible for payment for telehealth services under the Medi- care program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 16, 2020 Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. RIGGLEMAN, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. KIM, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SIRES, Mr. KEVIN HERN of Oklahoma, Mr. TIMMONS, and Mr. TONKO) 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 subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the scope of practitioners eligible for payment for tele- health services under the Medicare program, 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 ‘‘Expanded Telehealth 4 Access Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8755.IH H8755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8755 IH SEC. 2. EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF PRACTITIONERS ELIGI- 1 BLE FOR PAYMENT FOR TELEHEALTH SERV- 2 ICES UNDER MEDICARE. 3 (a) TELEHEALTH PROVIDER PARITY.—Section 4 1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)) 5 is amended— 6 (1) in paragraph (1)— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘or a practitioner (de- 8 scribed in section 1842(b)(18)(C))’’ and insert- 9 ing ‘‘or a professional described in paragraph 10 (4)(E))’’; and 11 (B) by striking ‘‘individual physician or 12 practitioner’’ and inserting ‘‘individual physi- 13 cian or professional’’; 14 (2) in paragraph (2)— 15 (A) by striking ‘‘practitioner’’ each place it 16 appears and inserting ‘‘professional’’ each such 17 place; 18 (B) by inserting before ‘‘located at a dis- 19 tant site’’ the following ‘‘(or, in the case of an 20 occupational therapy assistant described in 21 paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(II) or a physical therapist 22 assistant described in paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(II), 23 shall pay with respect to such assistant)’’; and 24 (C) by inserting ‘‘(or, in the case of an oc- 25 cupational therapy assistant described in para- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8755.IH H8755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8755 IH graph (4)(E)(ii)(II) or a physical therapist as- 1 sistant described in paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(II), 2 the amount that would have been paid under 3 this title with respect to such assistant)’’ after 4 ‘‘would have been paid under this title’’; 5 (3) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ‘‘or practi- 6 tioner’’ and inserting ‘‘or professional’’; and 7 (4) in paragraph (4)— 8 (A) in each of subparagraphs (A) and (C), 9 by striking ‘‘or practitioner’’ and inserting ‘‘or 10 professional’’; and 11 (B) by amending subparagraph (E) to read 12 as follows: 13 ‘‘(E) PROFESSIONAL DESCRIBED.—A pro- 14 fessional described in this subparagraph is— 15 ‘‘(i) a practitioner described in section 16 1842(b)(18)(C); or 17 ‘‘(ii) with respect to services furnished 18 on or after the date of enactment of the 19 Expanded Telehealth Access Act, a li- 20 censed— 21 ‘‘(I) audiologist; 22 ‘‘(II) occupational therapist and 23 occupational therapy assistant under 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8755.IH H8755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8755 IH the supervision of an occupational 1 therapist; 2 ‘‘(III) physical therapist and 3 physical therapist assistant under the 4 supervision of a physical therapist; 5 ‘‘(IV) speech language patholo- 6 gist; 7 ‘‘(V) facility described in para- 8 graph (8) or (9) of section 1833(a) 9 that furnishes telehealth therapy serv- 10 ices; and 11 ‘‘(VI) any additional health care 12 provider, as specified by the Sec- 13 retary, who participates under this 14 title and furnishes a service that is in- 15 cluded as a telehealth service under 16 this subsection.’’. 17 (b) ADDITIONAL COVERED TELEHEALTH SERV- 18 ICES.—Section 1834(m)(4)(F)(i) of the Social Security 19 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)(4)(F)(i)) is amended by adding 20 at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Such term shall 21 include, audiology services (as defined in section 22 1861(ll)(3)) and outpatient therapy services (including 23 such services furnished by a therapy assistant (as defined 24 by the Secretary)), including physical therapy of the type 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8755.IH H8755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8755 IH described in section 1861(p), occupational therapy of the 1 type that are described in section 1861(g), and speech- 2 language pathology services of the type described in sec- 3 tion 1861(ll)(2).’’. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8755.IH H8755 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS