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H.R. 7444 119th Congress House

Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act

Official title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to protect access to telehealth services under the Medicare program.

Introduced: February 9, 2026 Introduced by: Chris Pappas Democratic · New Hampshire See on congress.gov
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 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 9, 2026
Introduced in House
Feb 9, 2026
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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What's happening now February 9, 2026

Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act

This bill expands coverage of telehealth services under Medicare.

Specifically, the bill permanently (1) removes geographic restrictions on originating sites (i.e., the location of the beneficiary), (2) allows the home of the beneficiary to serve as the originating site for all services, (3) allows federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to serve as the distant site (i.e., the location of the health care practitioner), and (4) expands coverage to include audio-only services for evaluation and management and behavioral health services.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2
 Lobbying activity 4

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

 Cosponsors 1
All 1 Republican 1
R
Nunn, Zachary
Iowa · Feb 9, 2026
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 7444: Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-7444/
MLA
"H.R. 7444: Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-7444/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 7444, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-7444/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 7444: Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-7444/)
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