Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Furthering Access to Stroke Telemedicine Act of 2017” or the “FAST Act of 2017”.
Furthering Access to Stroke Telemedicine Act
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand access to telehealth-eligible stroke services under the Medicare program.
Sec. 2 Expanding access to telehealth-eligible stroke services under the Medicare program
in subparagraph (C)—
in clause (i), in the matter preceding subclause (I), by striking “The term” and inserting “Except as provided in clause (iii), the term”; and
by adding at the end the following new clause:
“(iii) Telehealth-eligible stroke services—With respect to telehealth-eligible stroke services, the term originating site means any hospital (as defined in section 1861(e)) or critical access hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1)), or any mobile stroke unit, at which the eligible telehealth individual is located at the time the service is furnished via a telecommunications system, regardless of where the hospital, critical access hospital, or mobile stroke unit is located.”
in subparagraph (F)(i) by inserting “telehealth-eligible stroke services,” after “Secretary)),”; and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(G) Telehealth-eligible stroke services—The term “telehealth-eligible stroke services” means services that are—
“(i) related to the diagnosis, evaluation, or treatment of symptoms of an acute stroke in an individual; and
“(ii) furnished to such individual not later than four and a half hours (or such other clinically appropriate amount of time as is determined by the Secretary) after the onset of such symptoms with respect to such individual.”
No originating site facility fee for new sites— Section 1834(m)(2)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)(2)(B)) is amended—
by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II), respectively (and adjusting the margins accordingly);
in subclause (II), as redesignated by paragraph (1), by striking “clause (i) or this clause” and inserting “subclause (I) or this subclause”;
by striking “Site.—With respect to” and inserting
“(i) In general—With respect to”
by striking “subject to section 1833(a)(1)(U)” and inserting “subject to clause (ii) and section 1833(a)(1)(U)”; and
by adding at the end the following new clause:
“(ii) No originating site facility fee for certain telestroke services—No facility fee shall be paid under this subparagraph to an originating site that is described in clause (iii) of paragraph (4)(C) and that would not otherwise meet the requirements for an originating site under paragraph (4)(C) without application of the amendments made by the FAST Act of 2017.”
Effective date— The amendments made by this section shall apply to services furnished on or after January 1, 2021.