I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9457 

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to prohibit 

increased payments under a group health plan or group health insurance 

coverage for telehealth services furnished by a provider located at a 

facility. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 6, 2024 

Mr. BEAN of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 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 committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

of 1974 to prohibit increased payments under a group 

health plan or group health insurance coverage for telehealth services furnished by a provider located at a facility. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transparent Tele5 health Bills Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING INCREASED PAYMENTS UNDER A 

2 GROUP HEALTH PLAN OR GROUP HEALTH IN3 SURANCE COVERAGE FOR TELEHEALTH 

4 SERVICES FURNISHED BY A PROVIDER LO5 CATED AT A FACILITY. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part 7 of subtitle 

7 B of title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security 

8 Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. section 1185 et seq.) is amended 

9 by adding at the end the following new section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 726. PROHIBITION ON INCREASED PAYMENTS FOR 

11 TELEHEALTH SERVICES FURNISHED BY A 

12 PROVIDER LOCATED AT A FACILITY. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a telehealth serv14 ice furnished to a participant or beneficiary of a group 

15 health plan or group health insurance coverage by a health 

16 care provider located at a health care facility, the total 

17 amount recognized by such plan or coverage as payment 

18 for such service (including any facility fee or other amount 

19 that may be billed separately by such facility in relation 

20 to such provider’s furnishing of such service) may not ex21 ceed the total amount that would have been recognized 

22 by such plan or coverage as payment for such service had 

23 such provider not been located at such a facility. 

24 ‘‘(b) TELEHEALTH SERVICE DEFINED.—For pur25 poses of this section, the term ‘telehealth service’ means 

26 a service furnished by a health care provider via a teleVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:23 Sep 10, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9457.IH H9457

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1 communications system where such provider is not at the 

2 same location as the individual receiving such service.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

4 in section 1 of such Act is amended by inserting after the 

5 item relating to section 725 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 726. Prohibition on increased payments for telehealth services furnished 

by a provider located at a facility.’’. 

6 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

8 of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 

9 on what is known about the use of telehealth under group 

10 health plans and group or individual health insurance cov11 erage (as such terms are defined in section 2791 of the 

12 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x)). Such re13 port shall include the following: 

14 (1) Trends and statistics regarding the use of 

15 telehealth for specific types of care, including pri16 mary care, mental health care, and specialty care. 

17 (2) Trends and statistics regarding the avail18 ability, access, and utilization of telehealth services 

19 by individuals residing in rural areas and urban 

20 areas. 

21 (3) Trends and statistics regarding the applica22 tion of hospital facility fees in the context of tele23 health services. 


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1 (4) Trends and statistics regarding how individ2 uals access telehealth services, including with respect 

3 to the devices used and tools offered by such plans 

4 and issuers of such coverage to facilitate access to 

5 such services and with respect to the utilization of 

6 audio-only telehealth services. 

7 (5) Trends and statistics with respect to indi8 viduals accessing telehealth services provided from 

9 physicians or other medical professionals residing in 

10 a State other than the State that the individual is 

11 located in while receiving such services and with re12 spect to applicable State laws or State-to-State com13 pacts that impact cross-State provision of telehealth 

14 services. 

15 (6) Trends and statistics regarding payment 

16 and reimbursement for telehealth services. 

17 (7) Trends and statistics regarding premiums 

18 for such plans and coverage offering telehealth serv19 ices. 

20 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

21 subsection (a) shall apply to plan years beginning on or 

22 after January 1, 2026. 

Æ 


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