H.R. 4521: Rural Telehealth Access and Reimbursement Act
This Act may be cited as the Rural Telehealth Access and Reimbursement Act.
In this Act: (1) ELIGIBLE ORIGINATING SITE. The term eligible originating site means a clinic, critical access hospital, rural health clinic, federally qualified health center, or the residence of a patient located in a county designated as nonmetropolitan by the Secretary. (2) QUALIFIED PRACTITIONER. The term qualified practitioner means a practitioner described in section 1842(b)(18)(C) of the Social Security Act who holds an unrestricted license in the State in which the patient is located.
Section 1834(m)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act is amended to permanently include eligible originating sites, including the residence of a patient, for purposes of payment for telehealth services. Payment under this subsection shall be made at the same rate as the corresponding in-person service furnished in the same locality. The Secretary may not impose a geographic restriction on an eligible originating site beyond the nonmetropolitan designation described in section 2.
The Secretary, acting through the Health Resources and Services Administration and in coordination with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, shall award grants to eligible originating sites for the acquisition of network capacity, endpoint equipment, and technical support required to furnish telehealth services. A grant awarded under this section may not exceed $250,000 per site per fiscal year, and not less than 60 percent of amounts appropriated shall be awarded to sites in counties with fewer than 50,000 residents.
The Secretary shall establish a voluntary coordination program under which participating State licensing boards may recognize the license of a qualified practitioner licensed in another participating State for the limited purpose of furnishing telehealth services to a patient at an eligible originating site. Participation by a State is voluntary and this section does not preempt State licensure law.
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment, and annually thereafter for 4 years, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a report on utilization of telehealth services at eligible originating sites, aggregate payment amounts, grant awards by county population band, and the number of States participating in the coordination program under section 5.
There is authorized to be appropriated $180,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031 to carry out section 4. Amounts appropriated under this section shall remain available until expended.