We don’t often cover brand-new proposed legislation on Rivkin Rounds, generally preferring to wait until it’s closer to becoming law. However, two bipartisan bills introduced in Congress last week are worthy of mention.

The Telehealth Extension and Evaluation Act would allow the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend certain pandemic-era flexibilities in Medicare payment policies for many telehealth services, including substance abuse treatment services, for an additional two years after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The proposed bill was introduced on February 7 by U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Todd Young (R-IN).

The Health Data Use and Privacy Commission Act, introduced on February 9 by U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), would “begin the process of modernizing our outdated health privacy laws and regulations.” The bill is light on detail but would establish a commission to review, and provide recommendations on updating, HIPAA and other federal and state laws protecting personal health information.