<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="119" measure-type="hr" measure-number="1720" measure-id="id119hr1720" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2025-02-27" update-date="2025-08-18">
        <title>Hospice Recertification Flexibility Act</title>
        <summary summary-id="id119hr1720v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2025-08-18">
            <action-date>2025-02-27</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Hospice Recertification Flexibility Act</strong></p><p>This bill extends until December 31, 2027, the ability of physicians and nurse practitioners to fulfill certain requirements for hospice care recertification under Medicare via telehealth.</p><p>Specifically, physicians and nurse practitioners may continue to fulfill the requirement of a face-to-face encounter with the hospice patient via telehealth. Such telehealth encounters must be identified with a specialized claims modifier for purposes of billing.</p><p>The bill's authorization does not apply (1) in areas in which there has been a moratorium for at least six months on the enrollment of new hospice programs under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) due to fraud, waste, or abuse; (2) to providers who are subject to enhanced oversight under Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP; and (3) to practitioners who are not enrolled as Medicare providers and who have private contracts with Medicare patients that do not meet applicable opt-out requirements.</p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
