Title: Tele-Mental Health Improvement Act
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Tele-Mental Health Improvement Act  This bill requires private health insurance plans that cover in-person mental health or substance use disorder services to cover such services on equal terms via telehealth (i.e., information technology used to aid treatment and diagnosis at a physical distance) during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public health emergency. Specifically, this bill requires, among other things, plans to cover such telehealth services at the same rate as in-person services, exclude charges for facility fees, and provide information about how to access such services.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3792 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3792

 To require parity in the coverage of mental health and substance use 
  disorder services provided to enrollees in private insurance plans, 
  whether such services are provided in-person or through telehealth.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 21, 2020

  Ms. Smith (for herself and Ms. Murkowski) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require parity in the coverage of mental health and substance use 
  disorder services provided to enrollees in private insurance plans, 
  whether such services are provided in-person or through telehealth.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tele-Mental Health Improvement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. COVERAGE OF TELEHEALTH MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER 
              SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--During the public health emergency 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, with respect 
to COVID-19, if a group health plan or group or individual health 
insurance coverage provides coverage of a mental health or substance 
use disorder service provided in-person, the group health plan or 
health insurance issuer offering such group or individual health 
insurance coverage--
            (1) shall provide coverage of the service provided through 
        telehealth at the same rate as the coverage for the same 
        service provided in-person;
            (2) shall ensure that providers not charge enrollees 
        facility fees;
            (3) may not impose additional barriers on obtaining such 
        coverage for such services through telehealth, compared to 
        coverage for such services provided in-person, such as a prior 
        authorization requirements, a requirement that the enrollee 
        have a pre-existing relationship with the provider, a 
        requirement that a provider be present with the enrollee during 
        the provision of services, or any other financial requirement, 
        treatment limitation, or utilization control policy or 
        procedure;
            (4) shall provide notice to enrollees, informing such 
        enrollees of how to access in-network telehealth mental health 
        and substance use disorder services and the scope of their 
        coverage; and
            (5) shall work with providers to ensure that telehealth 
        services are provided to enrollees in compliance with, as 
        applicable, the privacy regulations promulgated pursuant to 
        section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and 
        Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d-2) or privacy 
        guidelines promulgated and implemented by the Secretary of 
        Health and Human Services during a public health emergency.
    (b) Enforcement.--The provisions of subsection (a) shall be applied 
by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Labor, and 
Secretary of the Treasury to group health plans and health insurance 
issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage as if 
included in the provisions of part A of title XXVII of the Public 
Health Service Act, part 7 of the Employee Retirement Income Security 
Act of 1974, and subchapter B of chapter 100 of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986, as applicable.
    (c) Implementation.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of the Treasury may implement the 
provisions of this section through sub-regulatory guidance, program 
instruction, or otherwise.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the terms ``group health plan'', ``health insurance 
        issuer'', and ``health insurance coverage'' have the meanings 
        given such terms in section 2791 of the Public Health Service 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-91), section 733 of the Employee 
        Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1191b), and 
        section 9832 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as 
        applicable; and
            (2) the term ``telehealth services'' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 330I(a) of the Public Health Service Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 254c-14(a)), and includes 2-way video communication, 
        audio-only communication, and written information shared by 
        phone or email.
    (e) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall prevent 
the application of any State law that is not inconsistent with this 
section.
    (f) Report to Congress.--Not later than 180 days after the 
conclusion of the public health emergency described in subsection (a), 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, the 
Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives, and 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives on 
the impacts the requirement under subsection (a) has on the use of both 
telehealth services and health services provided in-person.
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