The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a bill, which would expand telehealth services to Medicare stroke patients, would increase direct spending by $180 million over the 2018 to 2027 period.
The Furthering Access to Stroke Telemedicine Act of 2017 (H.R. 1148) would reimburse Medicare beneficiaries who present at hospitals or mobile stroke units for telemedicine neurological consults.
According to the CBO analysis, enacting the bill would affect direct spending and pay-as-you-go procedures would apply.
CBO also released estimates for S. 870, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2017, a broader telehealth act that includes similar provisions for telestroke reimbursement. In its analysis of H.R. 1148, CBO notes these two bills are "substantially similar" are the "estimated budgetary effects are the same."
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