This overview is excerpted from Manatt on Health, Manatt’s subscription service that provides in-depth insights and analysis focused on the legal, policy and market developments. For more information on how to subscribe to Manatt on Health, please reach out to Barret Jefferds.
On May 16, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a markup of 23 bills. The subcommittee voted on legislation to extend several pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities in the Medicare program. Specifically, E&C unanimously advanced an amended version of the bipartisan Telehealth Modernization Act (H.R. 7623) that extends for two years these Medicare flexibilities: permitting any site in the U.S., including a patient’s home, to be an eligible originating site for the delivery of telehealth services; allowing federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as originating or distant sites for the delivery of telehealth services; permitting the use of audio-only telehealth for some services; and continuing to include qualified occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language therapists, and audiologists as eligible telehealth practitioners. This two year extension mirrors legislation advanced earlier by the House Ways and Means Committee with key differences.
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