Timely Access to Coverage Decisions Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 8500 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8500 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure timely review of local coverage determination requests under the Medicare program. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 27, 2026 Mr. Dunn of Florida (for himself, Ms. Barragan, and Ms. Tenney) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 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 _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure timely review of local coverage determination requests under the Medicare program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Timely Access to Coverage Decisions Act of 2026''. SEC. 2. ENSURING TIMELY REVIEW OF LOCAL COVERAGE DETERMINATION REQUESTS UNDER THE MEDICARE PROGRAM. (a) In General.--Section 1862(l)(5) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395y(l)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: ``(E) Timeframe for decisions on requests for local coverage determinations.-- ``(i) In general.--The Secretary shall require each Medicare administrative contractor that receives a formal LCD request on or after the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of this subparagraph to determine whether such request is a complete request or an incomplete request not later than 60 days after such contractor receives such request. ``(ii) Notification with respect to incomplete requests.--In the case that a M