I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9457 
To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to prohibit 
increased payments under a group health plan or group health insurance 
coverage for telehealth services furnished by a provider located at a 
facility. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 6, 2024 
Mr. BEAN of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974 to prohibit increased payments under a group 
health plan or group health insurance coverage for tele-
health services furnished by a provider located at a facil-
ity. 
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 ‘‘Transparent Tele-
health Bills Act of 2024’’. 
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITING INCREASED PAYMENTS UNDER A 
GROUP HEALTH PLAN OR GROUP HEALTH IN-
SURANCE 
COVERAGE 
FOR 
TELEHEALTH 
SERVICES FURNISHED BY A PROVIDER LO-
CATED AT A FACILITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part 7 of subtitle 
B of title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security 
Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. section 1185 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 726. PROHIBITION ON INCREASED PAYMENTS FOR 
TELEHEALTH SERVICES FURNISHED BY A 
PROVIDER LOCATED AT A FACILITY. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a telehealth serv-
ice furnished to a participant or beneficiary of a group 
health plan or group health insurance coverage by a health 
care provider located at a health care facility, the total 
amount recognized by such plan or coverage as payment 
for such service (including any facility fee or other amount 
that may be billed separately by such facility in relation 
to such provider’s furnishing of such service) may not ex-
ceed the total amount that would have been recognized 
by such plan or coverage as payment for such service had 
such provider not been located at such a facility. 
‘‘(b) TELEHEALTH SERVICE DEFINED.—For pur-
poses of this section, the term ‘telehealth service’ means 
a service furnished by a health care provider via a tele-
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communications system where such provider is not at the 
same location as the individual receiving such service.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1 of such Act is amended by inserting after the 
item relating to section 725 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 726. Prohibition on increased payments for telehealth services furnished 
by a provider located at a facility.’’. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 
of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 
on what is known about the use of telehealth under group 
health plans and group or individual health insurance cov-
erage (as such terms are defined in section 2791 of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x)). Such re-
port shall include the following: 
(1) Trends and statistics regarding the use of 
telehealth for specific types of care, including pri-
mary care, mental health care, and specialty care. 
(2) Trends and statistics regarding the avail-
ability, access, and utilization of telehealth services 
by individuals residing in rural areas and urban 
areas. 
(3) Trends and statistics regarding the applica-
tion of hospital facility fees in the context of tele-
health services. 
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(4) Trends and statistics regarding how individ-
uals access telehealth services, including with respect 
to the devices used and tools offered by such plans 
and issuers of such coverage to facilitate access to 
such services and with respect to the utilization of 
audio-only telehealth services. 
(5) Trends and statistics with respect to indi-
viduals accessing telehealth services provided from 
physicians or other medical professionals residing in 
a State other than the State that the individual is 
located in while receiving such services and with re-
spect to applicable State laws or State-to-State com-
pacts that impact cross-State provision of telehealth 
services. 
(6) Trends and statistics regarding payment 
and reimbursement for telehealth services. 
(7) Trends and statistics regarding premiums 
for such plans and coverage offering telehealth serv-
ices. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply to plan years beginning on or 
after January 1, 2026. 
Æ 
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