119-s1535

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1535 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 1535

 To ensure high-quality remote physiologic monitoring services for 
 Medicare beneficiaries and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 April 30, 2025

 Mrs. Blackburn (for herself and Mr. Warner) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To ensure high-quality remote physiologic monitoring services for 
 Medicare beneficiaries and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Patient Monitoring

    (RPM) Access Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) Remote physiologic monitoring (referred to in this 
 section as ``RPM'') supports highly coordinated care, improves 
 patient outcomes, and can lower costs to the Medicare program.

    (2) Three out of five federally designated health 
 professional shortage areas are in rural regions, and rural 
 residents generally must travel farther than urban counterparts 
 to access health care services.

    (3) Medicare reimbursement for RPM is lowest in States 
 where the prevalence of heart failure, hypertension, and 
 diabetes are well above the national average.

    (4) The practice expenses and malpractice expenses incurred 
 in the delivery of RPM are not lower in rural areas and do not 
 widely vary by State.

SEC. 3. PRACTICE EXPENSE INDEX FLOOR.

 

Section 1848

    (e)

    (1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-
4

    (e)

    (1) ) is amended by adding at the end the following
 ``
        (J) Floor for practice expense and malpractice 
 geographic indices for remote physiologic monitoring 
 services.--
 ``
            (i) In general.--For purposes of payment 
 for remote physiologic monitoring services 
 furnished on or after January 1, 2026, after 
 calculating the practice expense and 
 malpractice geographic indices, the Secretary 
 shall increase any such index to 1.00 if such 
 index would otherwise be less than 1.00.
 ``
            (ii) Non-budget neutrality.--Clause
            (i) shall not be applied in a budget neutral 
 manner.''.

SEC. 4. ENSURING HIGH-QUALITY SERVICES FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES.

    (a) In General.--

Section 1848 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395w-4) is amended by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (u) Ensuring High-Quality Services for Medicare Beneficiaries.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--The Secretary shall ensure that remote 
 physiologic monitoring services furnished under this title meet 
 the following requirements:
 ``
        (A) Providers of remote physiologic monitoring 
 must be capable of responding to data anomalies 
 detected by the monitoring service through clinical 
 support. This capability may be offered directly or 
 through a contracted partner.
 ``
        (B) Providers of remote physiologic monitoring 
 must be capable of transmitting all relevant captured 
 vitals and treatment management notes to the electronic 
 health record of the supervising provider as needed for 
 effective care management.
 ``
            (C) Providers of remote physiologic monitoring 
 must collect and report data required by the Secretary 
 in order to facilitate the evaluation of cost savings 
 to the Medicare program generated by the proliferation 
 of remote physiologic monitoring services.
 ``

    (2) Exceptions for small practices.--The Secretary shall 
 establish exceptions to the requirements under paragraph

    (1) for small medical practices as the Secretary determines 
 appropriate.
 ``

    (3) Definition of remote physiologic monitoring.--For 
 purposes of this section, the term `remote physiologic 
 monitoring' means non-face-to-face monitoring and analysis of 
 physiologic factors used to understand a patient's health 
 status, including the collection and analysis of patient 
 physiologic data that are used to develop and manage a 
 treatment plan related to chronic or acute conditions.''.

    (b) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit to 
Congress a report that includes the following:

    (1) An analysis of the estimated savings to the Medicare 
 program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
 1395 et seq.) resulting from earlier interventions and fewer 
 days of hospitalizations among beneficiaries furnished remote 
 physiologic monitoring services.

    (2) An analysis of the estimated savings to the Medicare 
 program resulting from greater medication adherence among 
 beneficiaries furnished remote physiologic monitoring services.

    (3) An analysis of practice expenses related to the 
 furnishing of remote physiologic monitoring services, including 
 cellular connectivity and other technology platform 
 maintenance.
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