I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2639
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make permanent certain
telehealth flexibilities under the Medicare program for telehealth services
furnished by Indian health programs.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL3, 2025
Ms. L
EGERFERNANDEZ (for herself, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. RUIZ, Mr.
O
BERNOLTE, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to
the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make
permanent certain telehealth flexibilities under the Medi-
care program for telehealth services furnished by Indian
health programs.
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 ‘‘Telehealth Access for 4
Tribal Communities Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. MAKING PERMANENT CERTAIN TELEHEALTH 1
FLEXIBILITIES UNDER THE MEDICARE PRO-2
GRAM FOR TELEHEALTH SERVICES FUR-3
NISHED BY INDIAN HEALTH PROGRAMS. 4
Section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 5
U.S.C. 1395m(m)) is amended— 6
(1) in paragraph (4)(C)(iii)— 7
(A) by striking ‘‘In the case’’ and inserting 8
the following: 9
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—In the case’’; 10
and 11
(B) by adding at the end the following new 12
subclause: 13
‘‘(II) S
PECIAL RULE FOR SERV -14
ICES FURNISHED BY INDIAN HEALTH 15
PROGRAMS.—With respect to tele-16
health services identified in subpara-17
graph (F)(i) as of the date of the en-18
actment of this clause furnished on or 19
after April 1, 2025, by an Indian 20
health program (as defined in section 21
4 of the Indian Health Care Improve-22
ment Act) or by an urban Indian or-23
ganization (as so defined), or by a 24
physician or practitioner employed by 25
or under contract with such a pro-26
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gram or organization, to an eligible 1
telehealth individual, the term ‘origi-2
nating site’ means any site in the 3
United States at which the eligible 4
telehealth individual is located at the 5
time the service is furnished via a 6
telecommunications system, including 7
the home of an individual.’’; and 8
(2) in paragraph (9)— 9
(A) by striking ‘‘In the case’’ and inserting 10
the following: 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In the case’’; and 12
(B) by adding at the end the following new 13
subparagraph: 14
‘‘(B) S
PECIAL RULE FOR SERVICES FUR -15
NISHED BY INDIAN HEALTH PROGRAMS .—The 16
Secretary shall provide coverage and payment 17
under this part for telehealth services identified 18
in subparagraph (F)(i) as of the date of the en-19
actment of this paragraph that are furnished on 20
or after April 1, 2025, via an audio-only com-21
munications system by an Indian health pro-22
gram (as defined in section 4 of the Indian 23
Health Care Improvement Act) or by an urban 24
Indian organization (as so defined), or by a 25
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physician or practitioner employed by or under 1
contract with such a program or organization, 2
to an eligible telehealth individual. For purposes 3
of the previous sentence, the term ‘telehealth 4
service’ means a telehealth service identified as 5
of the date of the enactment of this paragraph 6
by a HCPCS code (and any succeeding codes) 7
for which the Secretary has not applied the re-8
quirements of paragraph (1) and the first sen-9
tence of section 410.78(a)(3) of title 42, Code 10
of Federal Regulations, during the emergency 11
period described in subparagraph (A).’’. 12
Æ
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