[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1601 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1601

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exclude small rural 
 providers from the prospective payment system for hospital outpatient 
                          department services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 16, 1999

  Mr. Baucus introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exclude small rural 
 providers from the prospective payment system for hospital outpatient 
                          department services.

    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 ``Small Rural Provider Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF SMALL RURAL PROVIDERS FROM PPS FOR HOSPITAL 
              OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--Section 1833(t)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395l(t)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``For purposes of 
        this'' and inserting ``Subject to subparagraph (C), for 
        purposes of this''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(C) Exclusion for services furnished by small rural 
        providers.--The term `covered OPD services' does not include 
        services furnished by a--
                    ``(i) medicare-dependent, small rural hospital, as 
                defined in section 1886(d)(5)(G)(iv);
                    ``(ii) a critical access hospital, as defined in 
                section 1861(mm)(1);
                    ``(iii) sole community hospital, as defined in 
                section 1886(d)(5)(D)(iii); or
                    ``(iv) a hospital (determined as of the date of 
                enactment of the Small Rural Provider Act of 1999) 
                that--
                            ``(I) has less than 50 beds; and
                            ``(II) performed less than 5,000 outpatient 
                        procedures during the 12-month period ending on 
                        such date;
        if such hospital, within the 180-day period beginning on the 
        date of enactment of the Small Rural Provider Act of 1999, 
        requests the Secretary to exclude services furnished by such 
        hospital from the prospective payment system established under 
        this subsection.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect as if included in the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act 
of 1997.
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