Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA)’s HR 3577 would create a commission to examine and report on potential health care savings associated with telehealth, HIT, and other health innovations through wireless technology. The commission would have a limited life span, and would be dissolved once their final report is submitted.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)’s HR 3303 would divide health-related software into three categories, define ‘medical software’ versus ‘clinical software’ or ‘health software,’ and place medical software under FDA regulation. The FDA currently regulates ‘devices,’ which this bill differentiates from software, but all provisions that apply to devices would also apply to medical software under this bill.
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)’s HR 2001 would allow health care professionals either employed or contracted by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide telemedicine-delivered care to VA patients in any state. Further, neither the patient nor the provider would need to be located in a federally owned facility if telemedicine is used to deliver services.
Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS)’s HR 3306 would create a variety of opportunities for expanded telehealth use in Medicare and Medicaid programs, including the expansion of remote patient monitoring in certain programs, expanding eligible originating site locations for telemedicine in Medicare, and adding eligible locations for the HealthCare Connect Fund.
Reps. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)’s HR 3077 would permit licensed Medicare practitioners to provide telehealth-delivered services to Medicare beneficiaries in a different state without obtaining a separate license. The bill also calls for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop guidance for states to define “telemedicine services.”
