As expected, the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024 advanced out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Sept. 18 in a wide-ranging markup hearing.
The legislation extends critical telehealth provisions for two years that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and were set to expire at the end of the year. Although the provisions are not permanently extended, the bill’s passage by a vote of 41-0 is still seen as a significant win for the governing body.
“While I am disappointed that we are not making these Medicare telehealth flexibilities permanent, I look forward to working with my colleagues on this committee to ensure that these vital telehealth services do no lapse,” said the bill’s sponsor Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Georgia.
Carter previously told Fierce Healthcare he expected the amended legislation to pass. It includes language from the Telemental Health Act and Sustainable Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Services in the Home Act. It also includes the SPEAK Act and a long-term version of the Prevent Diabetes Act.
This legislation is expected to improve access to telehealth services for non-English speakers and for rural Americans. Specialty care, like recovery from severe cardiac events, can also be provided virtually. It also extends audio-only coverage for individuals with limited broadband internet access and lets hospitals give inpatient care at the home.
The telehealth extension bill included provisions to rein in pharmacy benefit managers, a popular health policy agenda item in this Congress. These provisions would require PBMs to be more transparent in their contractual arrangements and delink compensation from the cost of drugs.
“This will also help to make sure that we have compensation at a flat, fair market rate that is not tied to drug prices,” said Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Delaware.
Next, the bill could be included in a larger spending package in front of the full House of Representatives.
Ranking member Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, supported the telehealth bill but opposed a resolution and legislation reforming nursing homes.
He said resolution H.J. 139 would block the Biden administration’s rule establishing a minimum staffing standard at nursing homes and that the Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act and Building America’s Health Care Workforce Act would eliminate minimum training requirements for nursing home workers.
Republicans on the committee argued Biden’s rule requires unrealistic staffing ratios that would cause nursing homes to close.
The Ensuring Access to Medicaid Buy-in Program Act of 2024 passed with support from Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, and Pallone. The bill removes Medicaid restrictions for adults with disabilities, improving home and community-based services.
“Under current law, only individuals who need an institutional level of care are eligible to receive services under these waivers, leaving behind those who have legitimate needs but may not yet require as intensive level of assistance,” said Pallone. The cost is offset by requiring that Medicaid payments to pharmacies are correct, a practice that is currently voluntary.
Another Medicaid-focused bill, unanimously approved by the committee, will help military families with children that have disabilities keep access to care if the family moves out of state. This helps families, and up to 4,000 children, keep access to home-based care for services instead of getting placed on temporary waitlists.
Yesterday, the House passed by voice vote several pieces of legislation. One bill was the Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act of 2024 that would require state Medicaid programs to check whether providers are deceased through state databases on a quarterly basis.
Another bill was the Chronic Disease Flexibility Coverage Act, giving statutory authority to high-deductible health plans to offer expanded preventive care. This includes beta blockers, blood pressure monitors, glucometers, inhalers and cholesterol drugs. The list of services could be expanded further in the future.
“The Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act actually codifies a Trump Administration policy that will incentivize employers to offer coverage for these services so that they can lower healthcare costs for their workers and their business,” said House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri, in a statement.
Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-California, was disappointed the committee chose to not mark up the Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act. If passed, the bill would allow Medicare to cover cancer screening tests. He said hundreds of volunteers from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network were on the Hill yesterday in support of the bill.
Ruiz also wanted more movement on the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act. Notably, this bill would have Medicare cover anti-obesity medications and behavioral therapy for obesity from providers other than primary care physicians.
Both bills have already passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee.