I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2437
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require hospitals to
provide information on available hospice programs to certain individuals
upon discharge under the Medicare program.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH27, 2025
Mrs. H
OUCHINintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require
hospitals to provide information on available hospice pro-
grams to certain individuals upon discharge under the
Medicare program.
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 ‘‘End-of-life Access to 4
Supportive and Essential care Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘EASE 5
Act of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. REQUIRING HOSPITALS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION 1
ON AVAILABLE HOSPICE PROGRAMS TO CER-2
TAIN INDIVIDUALS UPON DISCHARGE UNDER 3
THE MEDICARE PROGRAM. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 1861(ee)(2)(D) of the So-5
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(ee)(2)(D)) is amend-6
ed— 7
(1) by inserting ‘‘, home health services,’’ after 8
‘‘including hospice care’’; 9
(2) by striking ‘‘including the availability of 10
home health services through individuals and enti-11
ties’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘including— 12
‘‘(i) in the case of individuals who are like-13
ly to need home health services, the availability 14
of such services through home health agencies’’; 15
(3) by striking ‘‘listed by the hospital as avail-16
able and, in the case of individuals who are likely to 17
need post-hospital extended care services,’’ and in-18
serting the following: ‘‘listed by the hospital as avail-19
able; 20
‘‘(ii) in the case of individuals who are 21
likely to need post-hospital extended care serv-22
ices,’’; 23
(4) by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; 24
and’’; and 25
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(5) by adding at the end the following new 1
clause: 2
‘‘(iii) in the case of individuals who are 3
likely eligible for hospice care, the availability of 4
such care through hospice programs that par-5
ticipate in the program under this title and that 6
serve the area in which the patient resides.’’. 7
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 8
paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to discharges occur-9
ring on or after January 1, 2026. 10
Æ
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