<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
<item congress="116" measure-type="hr" measure-number="4945" measure-id="id116hr4945" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2019-10-31" update-date="2020-03-25">
<title>Safeguarding Medicare Access to Respiratory Therapy Act of 2019</title>
<summary summary-id="id116hr4945v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2020-03-25">
<action-date>2019-10-31</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p><b>Safeguarding Medicare Access to Respiratory Therapy Act of 2019</b></p> <p>This bill establishes certain requirements relating to Medicare coverage of ventilators. </p> <p>Specifically, the bill (1) excludes ventilators and other covered respiratory items, as specified, from Medicare's competitive acquisition program (in which rates are set through a competitive bidding program rather than by an established fee schedule); and (2) requires the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services to establish a technical expert panel to review, and make recommendations regarding, national coverage determinations with respect to Medicare coverage of ventilators and other specified respiratory devices.</p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>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.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries 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.</dc:description>
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