United States HR 4008: Increasing Rural Telehealth Access Act of 2021

Bill Text

I
117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 4008
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment
of a virtual health pilot program to facilitate utilization of remote patient
monitoring technology to maintain or expand access to health care serv-
ices for individuals in rural areas, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 17, 2021
Mr. NEWHOUSE (for himself and Mr. O’HALLERAN) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for
the establishment of a virtual health pilot program to
facilitate utilization of remote patient monitoring tech-
nology to maintain or expand access to health care serv-
ices for individuals in rural areas, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Increasing Rural Tele-4
health Access Act of 2021’’. 5
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SEC. 2. INCREASING RURAL TELEHEALTH ACCESS. 1
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Subsection (a) of section 330I of 2
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c–14) is 3
amended— 4
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as 5
paragraphs (7) and (8), respectively; and 6
(2) by inserting after paragraph (5), the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(6) REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING TECH-9
NOLOGY.—The term ‘remote patient monitoring 10
technology’ means digital technologies used to collect 11
medical and other forms of health data from individ-12
uals in one location and electronically transmit such 13
data securely to health care providers in a different 14
location for assessment, recommendations, and inter-15
ventions.’’. 16
(b) PROGRAMS.—Subsection (b) of section 330I of 17
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c–14) is 18
amended— 19
(1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall establish, 20
under section 301’’ and inserting the following: 21
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab-22
lish, under section 301’’; and 23
(2) by adding at the end the following new 24
paragraph: 25
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‘‘(2) VIRTUAL HEALTH PILOT PROGRAM.—The 1
Secretary shall establish a virtual health pilot pro-2
gram to facilitate utilization of remote patient moni-3
toring technology to maintain or expand access to 4
health care services for individuals in rural areas.’’. 5
(c) GRANTS.—Subsection (d) of section 330I of the 6
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c–14) is amend-7
ed by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 8
‘‘(3) VIRTUAL HEALTH NETWORK PILOT PRO-9
GRAM GRANTS.—The Director shall, in carrying out 10
the virtual health pilot program referred to in sub-11
section (b)(2), award grants to eligible entities to fa-12
cilitate utilization of remote patient monitoring tech-13
nology in rural areas to— 14
‘‘(A) maintain or expand access to, and co-15
ordinate health care services for, individuals 16
with chronic conditions; 17
‘‘(B) improve and expand the training of 18
health care providers using remote patient mon-19
itoring technology; and 20
‘‘(C) minimize challenges facing health 21
care providers and health care facilities, includ-22
ing rural health clinics, community health cen-23
ters, community behavioral health centers, long- 24
term care facilities, and rural hospitals, as such 25
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providers and facilities serve their commu-1
nities.’’. 2
(d) GRANT PERIODS.—Subsection (e) of section 330I 3
of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c–14) is 4
amended— 5
(1) by striking ‘‘The Director may award 6
grants under this section’’ and inserting the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(1) TELEHEALTH NETWORK AND TELE-9
HEALTH RESEARCH CENTER GRANTS.—The Director 10
may award grants under paragraphs (1) and (2) of 11
subsection (d)’’; and 12
(2) by adding at the end the following new 13
paragraph: 14
‘‘(2) VIRTUAL HEALTH NETWORK PILOT PRO-15
GRAM GRANTS.—The Director shall— 16
‘‘(A) not later than 30 days after the date 17
of enactment of Increasing Rural Telehealth 18
Access Act of 2021, issue a notice of the avail-19
ability of funding through grants under sub-20
section (d)(3); and 21
‘‘(B) not later than 90 days after the date 22
of issuance of the notice required by subpara-23
graph (A), award all grants under subsection 24
(d)(3).’’. 25
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(e) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Subsection (f) of section 1
330I of the Public Health Se