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