3.0.0 2786 2019-11-15T21:57:50Z 2019-11-15T21:57:50Z Senate S S 2008-03-13 110 ssfi00 Finance Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2008-03-14T03:08:39Z 2008-03-13 ssfi00 Finance Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. IntroReferral 2008-03-13 Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR 3/14/2008 S2159-2163) IntroReferral B00100 9 Library of Congress 2008-03-13 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress G000386 Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA] Charles Grassley R IA E. N C001035 Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME] Susan Collins R ME M. 2008-04-23 False Health Access to health care Ambulances Ambulatory care Economics and Public Finance Emergency Management Emergency medicine Federal aid to health facilities Health planning Hospital rates Hospitals Housing and Community Development Kidney diseases Medical fees Medical laboratories Medical tests Medically uninsured Medicare Physicians Physicians' assistants Quality of care Rural health Science, Technology, Communications Small towns Social Welfare Telemedicine Terminal care Health 00 2008-03-13 Introduced in Senate 2008-08-08T22:28:34Z Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2008 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) extend Medicare flex grants; (2) revise requirements for the Medicare-dependent hospital (MDH) program; (3) permit rebasing for sole community hospitals; (4) revise the Medicare inpatient hospital payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals; (5) eliminate temporarily the disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustment cap; and (6) extend and revise the Medicare hold harmless provision under the prospective payment system (PPS) for hospital outpatient department (HOPD) services for certain hospitals.

Revises requirements for: (1) the treatment of rural sole community hospitals and Medicare dependent, small rural hospitals under the PPS for HOPD services; (2) the treatment of Medicare reasonable costs payments for certain clinical diagnostic laboratory tests furnished to hospital patients in certain rural areas; and (3) payment for clinical laboratory tests furnished by critical access hospitals.

Extends the Medicare incentive payment program for physician scarcity areas.

Revises the work geographic adjustment and the practice expense geographic adjustment under the Medicare physician fee schedule.

Extends the treatment of certain physician pathology services, and increased Medicare payments for rural ground ambulance services.

Makes hospital-based renal dialysis centers (including satellites) and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) originating sites for payment of telehealth services.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set $92 as the maximum rate of payment per visit in 2009 for independent rural health clinics.

Requires the Secretary to exempt from competitive acquisition requirements rural areas and small metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population of 600,000 or less.

Permits physician assistants to order post-hospital extended care services. Recognizes attending physician assistants as attending physicians for the purpose of serving hospice patients.

]]> Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2008 Short Titles as Introduced Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2008 Display Title Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2008 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to health care under the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas. Introduced in Senate 2008-03-13T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-110s2786is/xml/BILLS-110s2786is.xml 2008-03-13 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.