Increasing Access to Quality Cardiac Rehabilitation Care Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill amends Social Security Act sections 1861(eee) and 1861(fff), which govern Medicare cardiac rehabilitation and pulmonary rehabilitation. It changes the setting from a physician office to an office setting and adds physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists alongside physicians for prescribing exercise programs, supervising services, and meeting program requirements. The changes apply to items and services furnished on or after six months after enactment.
Who Benefits and How
Medicare beneficiaries needing cardiac rehabilitation, Medicare beneficiaries needing pulmonary rehabilitation, rural patients, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and rehabilitation clinics benefit from expanded access and workforce flexibility.
Who Bears the Burden and How
CMS program staff, Medicare contractors, physicians, and rehabilitation providers must comply with updated billing, supervision, credentialing, and program rules within six months.
Key Provisions
- Expands Medicare cardiac rehabilitation prescribing and supervision authority beyond physicians.
- Expands Medicare pulmonary rehabilitation prescribing and supervision authority beyond physicians.
- Changes the service location language from physician office to office setting.
- Requires the changes to apply six months after enactment.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Expands Medicare cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation rules so physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists may prescribe or supervise covered rehabilitation services in office settings beginning six months after enactment.
Key Policy Areas
Healthcare, Healthcare Providers, Government, Veterans
Primary Purpose
Expands Medicare cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation rules so physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists may prescribe or supervise covered rehabilitation services in office settings beginning six months after enactment.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Medicare cardiac rehabilitation patients
- Medicare pulmonary rehabilitation patients
- Physician assistants
- Nurse practitioners
- Rehabilitation clinics
Identified Costs
- CMS program staff
- Medicare contractors
- Physicians
- Rehabilitation providers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. Sewell (for herself and Mr. Smith of Nebraska) introduced …
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in …
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Clinical nurse specialists, Medicare cardiac rehabilitation patients, Medicare contractors
Positive-direction: Clinical nurse specialists, Medicare cardiac rehabilitation patients, Medicare pulmonary rehabilitation patients, Nurse practitioners, Physician assistants
Negative-direction: Medicare contractors
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology