commerce as it pertains to treatment by medical 
professionals licensed in one State to patients in 
other States. 
(2) COVID–19, the disease caused by SARS– 
CoV–2, has created a national public health emer-
gency, as declared by the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services under section 319 of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 
31, 2020, and by the President under the National 
Emergencies Act on March 13, 2020. 
(3) The COVID–19 pandemic has resulted in 
closing many businesses and nonprofit organizations, 
including colleges and universities, and large areas 
of the country remain under full or partial stay-at- 
home orders, precluding the ability to seek routine 
or elective medical treatment and consultation. The 
closing of campus-based in-person learning at insti-
tutions of higher education has also meant that up 
to 1,000,000 students have returned to live with 
their families across State lines from where they 
may have been receiving medical care in the univer-
sity setting. Furthermore, in many rural areas, in- 
person medical treatment is inaccessible. Even in 
urban areas, the pandemic has severely disrupted ac-
cess to medical care, requiring medical professionals 
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licensed in one State to provide treatment to pa-
tients residing nearby but across a State line and 
unable to visit the medical professional’s office in 
the State of licensure. 
(4) It is vital that hospitals, temporary surge or 
field facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and nursing 
homes in areas with high caseloads of COVID–19 
patients be able to have access to qualified medical 
professionals, including such professionals licensed 
in other States, without the delays that would be re-
quired for individualized licensing during a time 
when State agencies’ capacity to review and process 
licensing requests are limited by the pandemic. 
(5) The provision of services by medical profes-
sionals, including services provided at no cost and 
services provided to patients in a State other than 
the State or States in which the medical professional 
maintains an office for professional services, affects 
interstate commerce. When used to provide services 
to patients located in a State other than the State 
in which the medical professional is located, tele-
health services, as defined in section 3, utilize facili-
ties of interstate commerce. 
(6) The inability of patients to visit in-State 
health care providers during the current crisis sub-
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stantially affects interstate commerce. Economic ac-
tivity has been limited by public health authorities 
and other government officials to ‘‘flatten the curve’’ 
of infections and hospitalizations and thereby pre-
vent the health care system from becoming over-
whelmed. Maximizing the efficient and effective use 
of health care resources is therefore vital to reopen-
ing the economy. 
(7) Barriers to the efficient delivery of health 
care services will lead to a shortage of those services 
that substantially affect health care availability 
across State lines. Shortages in health care services 
in one State prompt interstate travel to obtain 
health care in other States, even though discour-
aging such travel, particularly among the sick, is 
vital to containing the contagion and reopening the 
national economy. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) the term ‘‘health care professional’’ means 
an individual who— 
(A) has a valid and unrestricted license or 
certification from, or is otherwise authorized by, 
a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory 
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or possession of the United States, for any 
health profession, including mental health; and 
(B) is not affirmatively excluded from 
practice in the licensing or certifying jurisdic-
tion or in any other jurisdiction; 
(2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services; and 
(3) the term ‘‘telehealth services’’ means use of 
telecommunications and information technology (in-
cluding synchronous or asynchronous audio-visual, 
audio-only, or store and forward technology) to pro-
vide access to physical and mental health assess-
ment, diagnosis, treatment, intervention, consulta-
tion, supervision, and information across distance. 
SEC. 4. TEMPORARY AUTHORIZATION OF TELEHEALTH 
AND INTERSTATE TREATMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of Federal or State law or regulation regarding the 
licensure or certification of health care providers or the 
provision of telehealth services, a health care professional 
may practice within the scope of the individual’s license, 
certification, or authorization described in section 3(1)(A), 
either in-person or through telehealth, in any State, the 
District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the 
United States, or any other location designated by the 
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Secretary, based on the licensure, certification, or author-
ization such individual in any one State, the District of 
Columbia, or territory or possession of the United States. 
(b) SCOPE OF TELEHEALTH SERVICES.—Telehealth 
services authorized by this section include services pro-
vided to any patient regardless of whether the health care 
professional has a prior treatment relationship with the 
patient, provided that, if the health care professional does 
not have a prior treatment relationship with the patient, 
a new relationship may be established only via a written 
acknowledgment or synchronous technology. 
(c) INITIATION OF TELEHEALTH SERVICES.—Before 
providing telehealth services authorized by this section, the 
health care professional shall— 
(1) verify the identification of the patient re-
ceiving health services; 
(2) obtain oral or written acknowledgment from 
the patient (or legal representative of the patient) to 
perform telehealth services, and if such acknowledg-
ment is oral, make a record of such acknowledg-
ment; and 
(3) obtain or confirm an alternative method of 
contacting the patient in case of a technological fail-
ure. 
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(d) WRITTEN NOTICE
OF PROVISION
OF SERV-
ICES.—As soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days 
after first providing services pursuant to this section in 
a jurisdiction other than the jurisdiction in which a health 
care professional is licensed, certified, or otherwise author-
ized, such health care professional shall provide written 
notice to the applicable licensing, certifying, or authorizing 
authority in the jurisdiction in which the health care pro-
fessional provided such services. Such notice shall include 
the health care professional’s— 
(1) name; 
(2) email address; 
(3) phone number; 
(4) State of primary license, certification, or 
authorization; and 
(5) license, certification, or authorization type, 
and applicable number or identifying information 
with respect to such license, certification, or author-
ization. 
(e) CLARIFICATION.—Nothing in this section author-
izes a health care professional to— 
(1) practice beyond the scope of practice au-
thorized by— 
(A) any State, District of Columbia, terri-
torial, or local authority in the jurisdiction in 
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