I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1301 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for coverage 

under the Medicare program of certain mental health telehealth services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 

Ms. DELBENE 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 committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide 

for coverage under the Medicare program of certain mental health telehealth services. 

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 ‘‘Mental Health Tele5 medicine Expansion Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MEDICARE COVERAGE OF CERTAIN MENTAL 

2 HEALTH TELEHEALTH SERVICES. 

3 Section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 1395m(m)) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (4)(F)(i), by inserting ‘‘serv6 ices identified by CPT codes 90834 and 90837 (and 

7 as subsequently modified by the Secretary),’’ before 

8 ‘‘and any additional service’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(8) TREATMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH TELE12 HEALTH SERVICES.— 

13 ‘‘(A) NON-APPLICATION OF ORIGINATING

14 SITE REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements de15 scribed in paragraph (4)(C) shall not apply with 

16 respect to telehealth services furnished on or 

17 after January 1, 2020, that are mental health 

18 telehealth services. Nothing in the previous sen19 tence shall waive any applicable State law re20 quirements. 

21 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN SITES.— 

22 With respect to telehealth services described in 

23 subparagraph (A), the term ‘originating site’ 

24 shall include the home of the eligible telehealth 

25 individual at which the individual is located at 


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1 the time the service is furnished via a tele2 communications system. 

3 ‘‘(C) NO ORIGINATING SITE FACILITY

4 FEE.—No facility fee shall be paid under para5 graph (2)(B) to an originating site with respect 

6 to a telehealth service described in subpara7 graph (A) if the originating site does not other8 wise meet the requirements for an originating 

9 site under paragraph (4)(C). 

10 ‘‘(D) IN-PERSON ASSESSMENTS RE11 QUIRED.—Payment may not be made for men12 tal health telehealth services under this para13 graph (if such payment would not otherwise be 

14 allowed under this subsection without applica15 tion of this paragraph) furnished to an eligible 

16 telehealth individual unless— 

17 ‘‘(i) prior to the provision of such 

18 mental health telehealth services, a physi19 cian or practitioner furnished an in-person 

20 assessment of the needs of such individual 

21 for such services; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) a physician or practitioner fur23 nishes a reassessment of the needs of such 

24 individual for such services at a frequency 

25 specified by the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(E) MENTAL HEALTH TELEHEALTH

2 SERVICES DEFINED.—For purposes of this 

3 paragraph, the term ‘mental health telehealth 

4 service’ means services identified by CPT codes 

5 90834 and 90837 (and as subsequently modi6 fied by the Secretary).’’. 

Æ 


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