II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3792 

To require parity in the coverage of mental health and substance use disorder 

services provided to enrollees in private insurance plans, whether such 

services are provided in-person or through telehealth. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2020 

Ms. SMITH (for herself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require parity in the coverage of mental health and substance use disorder services provided to enrollees in private insurance plans, whether such services are provided 

in-person or through telehealth. 

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 ‘‘Tele-Mental Health 

5 Improvement Act’’. 


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•S 3792 IS

1 SEC. 2. COVERAGE OF TELEHEALTH MENTAL HEALTH AND 

2 SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER SERVICES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—During the public health emer4 gency declared by the Secretary of Health and Human 

5 Services under section 319 of the Public Health Service 

6 Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, with respect 

7 to COVID-19, if a group health plan or group or indi8 vidual health insurance coverage provides coverage of a 

9 mental health or substance use disorder service provided 

10 in-person, the group health plan or health insurance issuer 

11 offering such group or individual health insurance cov12 erage— 

13 (1) shall provide coverage of the service pro14 vided through telehealth at the same rate as the cov15 erage for the same service provided in-person; 

16 (2) shall ensure that providers not charge en17 rollees facility fees; 

18 (3) may not impose additional barriers on ob19 taining such coverage for such services through tele20 health, compared to coverage for such services pro21 vided in-person, such as a prior authorization re22 quirements, a requirement that the enrollee have a 

23 pre-existing relationship with the provider, a require24 ment that a provider be present with the enrollee 

25 during the provision of services, or any other finanVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3792.IS S3792

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1 cial requirement, treatment limitation, or utilization 

2 control policy or procedure; 

3 (4) shall provide notice to enrollees, informing 

4 such enrollees of how to access in-network telehealth 

5 mental health and substance use disorder services 

6 and the scope of their coverage; and 

7 (5) shall work with providers to ensure that 

8 telehealth services are provided to enrollees in com9 pliance with, as applicable, the privacy regulations 

10 promulgated pursuant to section 264(c) of the 

11 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 

12 of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2) or privacy guidelines 

13 promulgated and implemented by the Secretary of 

14 Health and Human Services during a public health 

15 emergency. 

16 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—The provisions of subsection 

17 (a) shall be applied by the Secretary of Health and Human 

18 Services, Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of the Treas19 ury to group health plans and health insurance issuers of20 fering group or individual health insurance coverage as if 

21 included in the provisions of part A of title XXVII of the 

22 Public Health Service Act, part 7 of the Employee Retire23 ment Income Security Act of 1974, and subchapter B of 

24 chapter 100 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as ap25 plicable. 


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1 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Health and 

2 Human Services, Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of the 

3 Treasury may implement the provisions of this section 

4 through sub-regulatory guidance, program instruction, or 

5 otherwise. 

6 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

7 (1) the terms ‘‘group health plan’’, ‘‘health in8 surance issuer’’, and ‘‘health insurance coverage’’ 

9 have the meanings given such terms in section 2791 

10 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg– 

11 91), section 733 of the Employee Retirement Income 

12 Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1191b), and section 

13 9832 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as ap14 plicable; and 

15 (2) the term ‘‘telehealth services’’ has the 

16 meaning given such term in section 330I(a) of the 

17 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c–14(a)), 

18 and includes 2-way video communication, audio-only 

19 communication, and written information shared by 

20 phone or email. 

21 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec22 tion shall prevent the application of any State law that 

23 is not inconsistent with this section. 

24 (f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 180 days 

25 after the conclusion of the public health emergency deVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3792.IS S3792

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1 scribed in subsection (a), the Secretary of Health and 

2 Human Services shall submit to the Committee on Health, 

3 Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, the Com4 mittee on Education and Labor of the House of Rep5 resentatives, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

6 of the House of Representatives on the impacts the re7 quirement under subsection (a) has on the use of both 

8 telehealth services and health services provided in-person. 

Æ 


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