I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1720
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to extend certain telehealth
flexibilities with respect to hospice care under the Medicare program,
and to establish a modifier for recertifications of hospice care eligibility
conducted through telehealth.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Mrs. M
ILLERof West Virginia (for herself, Mr. GOLDENof Maine, Ms. VAN
D
UYNE, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, Mr. BEANof Florida, and Mr.
M
ORELLE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to extend
certain telehealth flexibilities with respect to hospice care
under the Medicare program, and to establish a modifier
for recertifications of hospice care eligibility conducted
through telehealth.
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 ‘‘Hospice Recertification 4
Flexibility Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN TELEHEALTH FLEXIBILI-1
TIES. 2
Section 1814(a)(7)(D)(i)(II) of the Social Security 3
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395f(a)(7)(D)(i)(II)) is amended— 4
(1) by striking ‘‘ending on March 31, 2025’’ 5
and inserting ‘‘ending on December 31, 2027’’; and 6
(2) by inserting ‘‘, except that this subclause 7
shall not apply in the case of such an encounter with 8
an individual occurring on or after January 1, 2026, 9
if such individual is located in an area that has been 10
subject to a moratorium on the enrollment of hos-11
pice programs under this title pursuant to section 12
1866(j)(7) for a period of not less than 6 months, 13
if such individual is receiving hospice care from a 14
provider that is subject to enhanced oversight under 15
this title pursuant to section 1866(j)(3), or if such 16
encounter is performed by a hospice physician or 17
nurse practitioner who is not enrolled under section 18
1866(j) and is not an opt-out physician or practi-19
tioner (as defined in section 1802(b)(6)(D))’’ before 20
the semicolon. 21
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF MODIFIER FOR RECERTIFI-22
CATIONS OF HOSPICE CARE ELIGIBILITY 23
CONDUCTED THROUGH TELEHEALTH. 24
Section 1814(a)(7)(D)(i)(II) of the Social Security 25
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395f(a)(7)(D)(i)(II)), as amended by sec-26
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•HR 1720 IH
tion 2, is further amended by inserting ‘‘, but only if, in 1
the case of such an encounter occurring on or after Janu-2
ary 1, 2026, any hospice claim includes 1 or more modi-3
fiers or codes (as specified by the Secretary) to indicate 4
that such encounter was conducted via telehealth’’ after 5
‘‘as determined appropriate by the Secretary’’. 6
Æ
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