Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2538 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2538
5	5	To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to require the Center for
6	6	Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test a comprehensive alternative
7	7	response for emergencies model under the Medicare program.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	APRIL1, 2025
10	10	Mr. C
11	11	AREY(for himself, Mr. DOGGETT, Mrs. MILLERof West Virginia, and
12	12	Mr. R
13	13	YAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
14	14	mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on
15	15	Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
16	16	Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
17	17	the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to require
20	20	the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test
21	21	a comprehensive alternative response for emergencies
22	22	model under the Medicare program.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comprehensive Alter-4
27	27	native Response for Emergencies Act of 2025’’ or the 5
28	28	‘‘CARE Act of 2025’’. 6
29	29	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:40 Apr 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2538.IH H2538
30	30	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
31	31	•HR 2538 IH
32	32	SEC. 2. REQUIRING THE CENTER FOR MEDICARE AND MED-1
33	33	ICAID INNOVATION TO TEST A COMPREHEN-2
34	34	SIVE ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE FOR EMER-3
35	35	GENCIES MODEL UNDER THE MEDICARE 4
36	36	PROGRAM. 5
37	37	(a) I
38	38	NGENERAL.—Section 1115A of the Social Secu-6
39	39	rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1315a) is amended— 7
40	40	(1) in subsection (b)— 8
41	41	(A) in paragraph (2)(A), in the third sen-9
42	42	tence, by inserting ‘‘, and, beginning not later 10
43	43	than the date that is 2 years after the date of 11
44	44	the enactment of the CARE Act of 2025, shall 12
45	45	include the Comprehensive Alternative Re-13
46	46	sponse for Emergencies Model described in sub-14
47	47	section (h)’’ before the period at the end; and 15
48	48	(B) in paragraphs (3)(B), by striking ‘‘The 16
49	49	Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘Except in the case of 17
50	50	the model described in subsection (h), the Sec-18
51	51	retary’’; and 19
52	52	(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-20
53	53	section: 21
54	54	‘‘(h) C
55	55	OMPREHENSIVEALTERNATIVERESPONSE FOR 22
56	56	E
57	57	MERGENCIESMODEL.— 23
58	58	‘‘(1) I
59	59	N GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 24
60	60	(b)(2)(A), the Comprehensive Alternative Response 25
61	61	for Emergencies Model described in this subsection 26
62	62	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:40 Apr 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2538.IH H2538
63	63	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
64	64	•HR 2538 IH
65	65	is a model under which payment is made under part 1
66	66	B of title XVIII for treatment services furnished to 2
67	67	an individual enrolled under such part by a provider 3
68	68	or supplier of ground ambulance services (as de-4
69	69	scribed in section 1834(l)), or by an entity under ar-5
70	70	rangement with such a provider, when such serv-6
71	71	ices— 7
72	72	‘‘(A) include the dispatch of a ground am-8
73	73	bulance vehicle but do not include a cor-9
74	74	responding transport payable under such sec-10
75	75	tion; 11
76	76	‘‘(B) are so furnished in response to an 12
77	77	emergency medical call (as specified by the Sec-13
78	78	retary) made with respect to such individual; 14
79	79	and 15
80	80	‘‘(C) are so furnished in accordance with 16
81	81	State and local licensure requirements and pro-17
82	82	tocols (which may include online medical direc-18
83	83	tion through the use of audiovisual tele-19
84	84	communications technology). 20
85	85	‘‘(2) P
86	86	AYMENT.— 21
87	87	‘‘(A) I
88	88	N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 22
89	89	set payment rates for services furnished under 23
90	90	the model described in paragraph (1) in a man-24
91	91	ner that generally aligns such payments with 25
92	92	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:40 Apr 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2538.IH H2538
93	93	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
94	94	•HR 2538 IH
95	95	the payments that would have been made for 1
96	96	such services had such services resulted in a 2
97	97	transport payable under section 1834(l). 3
98	98	‘‘(B) O
99	99	RIGINATING SITE FEE.—In the case 4
100	100	of a telehealth service payable under section 5
101	101	1834(m) that is furnished in conjunction with 6
102	102	treatment services furnished under the model 7
103	103	described in paragraph (1), the site where the 8
104	104	individual receiving such telehealth service is lo-9
105	105	cated shall be treated as an originating site that 10
106	106	is described in paragraph (4)(C)(ii)(V) of such 11
107	107	section for purposes of applying paragraph 12
108	108	(2)(B) of such section. 13
109	109	‘‘(3) D
110	110	URATION.—The model described in para-14
111	111	graph (1) shall be carried out for a period of 5 15
112	112	years.’’. 16
113	113	(b) R
114	114	EPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the date 17
115	115	on which the Comprehensive Alternative Response for 18
116	116	Emergencies Model (as described in section 1115A(h) of 19
117	117	the Social Security Act, as added by subsection (a)) is im-20
118	118	plemented, the Comptroller General of the United States 21
119	119	shall submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the 22
120	120	House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance 23
121	121	of the Senate a report that, taking into account stake-24
122	122	holder input and to the extent data is available— 25
123	123	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:40 Apr 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2538.IH H2538
124	124	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
125	125	•HR 2538 IH
126	126	(1) analyzes various aspects of Medicare bene-1
127	127	ficiaries’ access to emergency medical services, in-2
128	128	cluding an evaluation of the impact of such model on 3
129	129	beneficiary outcomes and resource utilization; 4
130	130	(2) compares beneficiary outcomes under such 5
131	131	model with beneficiary outcomes using traditional 6
132	132	emergency transportation; 7
133	133	(3) assesses the impact of regional variations 8
134	134	and demographics on the availability of emergency 9
135	135	medical services; 10
136	136	(4) identifies best practices and potential chal-11
137	137	lenges in implementing such model; and 12
138	138	(5) includes recommendations for improving 13
139	139	emergency medical services. 14
140	140	Æ
141	141	VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:40 Apr 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2538.IH H2538
142	142	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB