IB 

Union Calendar No. 328 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1148 

[Report No. 115–444, Part I] 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand access to 

telehealth-eligible stroke services under the Medicare program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 

Mr. GRIFFITH (for himself, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mr. RYAN

of Ohio, Mr. COLLINS of New York, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. BABIN, Mr. TURNER, and Mr. JOHNSON of 

Ohio) 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 

DECEMBER 6, 2017 

Additional sponsors: Mr. GRAVES of Georgia, Mr. FLORES, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. 

PASCRELL, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. HARRIS, Ms. 

MCCOLLUM, Mr. CLAY, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, 

Mr. TONKO, Mr. WENSTRUP, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. HARPER, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. BARR, Mr. COLE, Mr. POLIS, 

Mr. ROTHFUS, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. POCAN, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. DAVID

SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. NUNES, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. 

COFFMAN, Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. LONG, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. DELBENE, 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. BROWNLEY of 

California, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mrs. DAVIS of California, 

Mr. ENGEL, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. UPTON, 

Mr. BEN RAY LUJA ́N of New Mexico, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KIND, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. HECK, Mr. WELCH, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New 

Mexico, Mr. CRIST, Mr. COSTA, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, Mr. EMMER, 

Ms. ESHOO, Mr. BERA, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. WALZ, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. 

CARTWRIGHT, Mr. DUNN, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. MCKINLEY, 


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•HR 1148 RH

Mr. MULLIN, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE

of Pennsylvania, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. SOTO, Mr. TAKANO, 

Mr. ELLISON, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. HIMES, Mr. POLIQUIN, 

Mr. STIVERS, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. STEWART, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. KNIGHT, Mr. 

KINZINGER, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, 

Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia, Ms. ESTY of Connecticut, Mr. YOUNG of 

Iowa, Mr. COOK, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 

RUIZ, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. CURBELO of 

Florida, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. VELA, 

Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. 

FORTENBERRY, Mr. FERGUSON, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, 

Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. BARTON, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. SMUCKER, Mr. 

PETERS, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. 

CLARKE of New York, Mr. DONOVAN, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. 

POSEY, Mr. LANCE, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. DENT, Mrs. 

BROOKS of Indiana, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. 

REED, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 

MOORE, Mr. HOLLINGSWORTH, Mr. NOLAN, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. 

PINGREE, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Ms. 

SLAUGHTER, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. LEWIS of Minnesota, Mr. 

BLUM, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. PETERSON, 

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. KATKO, Mr. GONZALEZ of 

Texas, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. BYRNE, Mr. LAHOOD, 

and Mr. LARSON of Connecticut 

DECEMBER 6, 2017 

Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

DECEMBER 6, 2017 

The Committee on Ways and Means discharged; committed to the Committee 

of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 16, 2017] 

A BILL 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand 

access to telehealth-eligible stroke services under the 

Medicare program. 


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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 ‘‘Furthering Access to 

5 Stroke Telemedicine Act of 2017’’ or the ‘‘FAST Act of 

6 2017’’. 

7 SEC. 2. EXPANDING ACCESS TO TELEHEALTH-ELIGIBLE 

8 STROKE SERVICES UNDER THE MEDICARE 

9 PROGRAM. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1834(m)(4) of the Social 

11 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)(4)) is amended— 

12 (1) in subparagraph (C)— 

13 (A) in clause (i), in the matter preceding 

14 subclause (I), by striking ‘‘The term’’ and insert15 ing ‘‘Except as provided in clause (iii), the 

16 term’’; and 

17 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

18 clause: 

19 ‘‘(iii) TELEHEALTH-ELIGIBLE STROKE

20 SERVICES.—With respect to telehealth-eligi21 ble stroke services, the term ‘originating 

22 site’ means any hospital (as defined in sec23 tion 1861(e)) or critical access hospital (as 

24 defined in section 1861(mm)(1)), or any 

25 mobile stroke unit, at which the eligible teleVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:59 Dec 06, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1148.RH H1148

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1 health individual is located at the time the 

2 service is furnished via a telecommuni3 cations system, regardless of where the hos4 pital, critical access hospital, or mobile 

5 stroke unit is located.’’; 

6 (2) in subparagraph (F)(i) by inserting ‘‘tele7 health-eligible stroke services,’’ after ‘‘Secretary)),’’; 

8 and 

9 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(G) TELEHEALTH-ELIGIBLE STROKE SERV12 ICES.—The term ‘telehealth-eligible stroke serv13 ices’ means services that are— 

14 ‘‘(i) related to the diagnosis, evalua15 tion, or treatment of symptoms of an acute 

16 stroke in an individual; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) furnished to such individual not 

18 later than four and a half hours (or such 

19 other clinically appropriate amount of time 

20 as is determined by the Secretary) after the 

21 onset of such symptoms with respect to such 

22 individual.’’. 

23 (b) NO ORIGINATING SITE FACILITY FEE FOR NEW

24 SITES.—Section 1834(m)(2)(B) of the Social Security Act 

25 (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)(2)(B)) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub2 clauses (I) and (II), respectively (and adjusting the 

3 margins accordingly); 

4 (2) in subclause (II), as redesignated by para5 graph (1), by striking ‘‘clause (i) or this clause’’ and 

6 inserting ‘‘subclause (I) or this subclause’’; 

7 (3) by striking ‘‘SITE.—With respect to’’ and in8 serting ‘‘SITE.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—With respect to’’; 

10 (4) by striking ‘‘subject to section 1833(a)(1)(U)’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘subject to clause (ii) and section 

12 1833(a)(1)(U)’’; and 

13 (5) by adding at the end the following new 

14 clause: 

15 ‘‘(ii) NO ORIGINATING SITE FACILITY

16 FEE FOR CERTAIN TELESTROKE SERV17 ICES.—No facility fee shall be paid under 

18 this subparagraph to an originating site 

19 that is described in clause (iii) of para20 graph (4)(C) and that would not otherwise 

21 meet the requirements for an originating 

22 site under paragraph (4)(C) without appli23 cation of the amendments made by the 

24 FAST Act of 2017.’’. 


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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this 

2 section shall apply to services furnished on or after January 

3 1, 2021. 


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Union Calendar No. 328 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1148 

[Report No. 115–444, Part I] 

A BILL 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to 

ices under the Medicare program. expand access to telehealth-eligible stroke servDECEMBER 6, 2017 

Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

D

with an amendment 

ECEMBER 6, 2017 

The Committee on Ways and Means discharged; comState of the Union and ordered to be printed mitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the 


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