# 119-hr-5496: HEALTH Act of 2025

119-hr-5496, HEALTH Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15] (R-PA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5496
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5496
- Congress: 119
- Title: HEALTH Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-09-18
- Sponsor: Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15] (R-PA)
- Cosponsors: 5
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Makes Medicare telehealth expansions for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) permanent.** It would add audio-only visits to the telehealth definition, require HHS to update rules within 60 days, convert emergency-period telehealth payments into ongoing Medicare payments, and remove geographic and originating-site limits while allowing facility fees only for certain originating-site types. - Patients, including people in rural areas and those without video, would keep access to two-way audio or video telehealth for Medicare visits and face fewer location rules. - Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics would be able to bill Medicare for distant-site telehealth as outpatient services and include telehealth costs when calculating payments under cost-based or prospective payment systems. - Originating sites would no longer block access based on location, but facility fees would be paid only for originating sites that meet specific listed categories.

## Cosponsors (5)

- Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2] (D-HI), 2025-09-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7] (D-VA), 2025-10-21T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Stansbury, Melanie A. [D-NM-1] (D-NM), 2025-12-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Pappas, Chris [D-NH-1] (D-NH), 2025-12-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH-9] (D-OH), 2026-01-07T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- More Medicare telehealth at community and rural clinics: benefit, medium. If enacted, Medicare would let community health centers and rural health clinics act as distant telehealth providers without patient location limits. Audio-only phone visits would count as telehealth. Medicare would pay these clinics as outpatient visits, and their telehealth costs would count in c…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-7567: Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026
- 119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
- 119-hr-1065: Protect Our Letter Carriers Act of 2025
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-5496 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5496)

## Related
- [119-hr-7567: Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7567)
- [119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9877)
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262)
- [119-hr-1065: Protect Our Letter Carriers Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1065)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5496 (as of 2026-04-21).