I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2168 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the scope of 
practitioners eligible for payment for telehealth services under the Medi-
care program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 23, 2021 
Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. FITZPATRICK, 
Mr. SIRES, Ms. TENNEY, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, 
Mr. RUSH, Mr. YOUNG, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. TONKO, Ms. BLUNT ROCH-
ESTER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. CARSON, and Mr. O’HALLERAN) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy 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 jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand 
the scope of practitioners eligible for payment for tele-
health services under the Medicare program, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanded Telehealth 
Access Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF PRACTITIONERS ELIGI-
BLE FOR PAYMENT FOR TELEHEALTH SERV-
ICES UNDER MEDICARE. 
(a) 
TELEHEALTH
PROVIDER
PARITY.—Section 
1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)) 
is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘described in section 
1842(b)(18)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘as described in 
paragraph (4)(E))’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘individual physician or 
practitioner’’ and inserting ‘‘individual physi-
cian or practitioner described in paragraph 
(4)(E)’’; 
(2) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘practitioner’’ each place it 
appears and inserting ‘‘practitioner as described 
in paragraph (4)(E)’’ each such place; 
(B) by inserting before ‘‘located at a dis-
tant site’’ the following ‘‘(or, in the case of an 
occupational therapy assistant described in 
paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(II) or a physical therapist 
assistant described in paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(III), 
shall pay with respect to such assistant)’’; and 
(C) by inserting ‘‘(or, in the case of an oc-
cupational therapy assistant described in para-
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graph (4)(E)(ii)(II) or a physical therapist as-
sistant described in paragraph (4)(E)(ii)(III), 
the amount that would have been paid under 
this title with respect to such assistant)’’ after 
‘‘would have been paid under this title’’; 
(3) in paragraph (3)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or 
practitioner’’ and inserting ‘‘or practitioner de-
scribed in paragraph (4)(E)’’; and 
(B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘de-
scribed in subparagraph (C) of such section’’ 
after ‘‘practitioners’’; and 
(4) in paragraph (4)— 
(A) in each of subparagraphs (A) and (C), 
by inserting ‘‘described in paragraph (4)(E)’’ 
after ‘‘practitioner’’; and 
(B) by amending subparagraph (E) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(E) 
PRACTITIONER
DESCRIBED.—The 
term ‘practitioner’ means any of the following: 
‘‘(i) A practitioner described in section 
1842(b)(18)(C). 
‘‘(ii) With respect to services fur-
nished on or after the date of enactment of 
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the Expanded Telehealth Access Act, a li-
censed— 
‘‘(I) qualified audiologist (as de-
fined in section 1861(ll)(4)(B); 
‘‘(II) occupational therapist and 
occupational therapy assistant under 
the supervision of an occupational 
therapist; 
‘‘(III) physical therapist and 
physical therapist assistant under the 
supervision of a physical therapist; 
‘‘(IV) qualified speech-language 
pathologist (as defined in section 
1861(ll)(4)(A)); 
‘‘(V) facility described in para-
graph (8) or (9) of section 1833(a) 
that furnishes telehealth therapy serv-
ices; and 
‘‘(VI) any additional health care 
provider, as specified by the Sec-
retary, who participates under this 
title and furnishes a service that is in-
cluded as a telehealth service under 
this subsection.’’. 
Æ 
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