[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1787 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1787
To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to require that certain
technical medical employees of the Indian Health Service be compensated
for time during which they are required to be on-call.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 9, 2001
Mr. Peterson of Minnesota introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Resources, 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 the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to require that certain
technical medical employees of the Indian Health Service be compensated
for time during which they are required to be on-call.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. ON-CALL PAY FOR CERTAIN TECHNICAL MEDICAL EMPLOYEES.
Title I of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1611
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 125. ON-CALL PAY FOR CERTAIN TECHNICAL MEDICAL EMPLOYEES.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall pay a technical medical
employee of the Service for such time as the technical medical employee
is officially scheduled to be on call outside such technical medical
employee's regular hours or on a holiday designated by Federal statute
or Executive order for such time as the technical medical employee may
be called back to work at a rate that is equal to 10 percent of the
amount that is equal to one and \1/2\ times such technical medical
employee's hourly rate of basic pay.
``(b) Technical Medical Employee.--For the purposes of this
section, the term `technical medical employee' includes the following:
``(1) Medical technician.--An employee whose position is in
the GS-0645 occupational series. Such a position may involve
nonprofessional technical work in clinical (medical)
laboratories such as performing tests and examinations in one
or more areas of work (such as chemistry, blood banking,
hematology, or microbiology) where the reports of findings of
tests and examinations may be used by physicians in diagnosis,
care and treatment of patients, or in support of medical
research. The work may require a practical knowledge of the
techniques of medical laboratory practice in one or more areas
of clinical laboratory work (e.g., blood banking, chemistry,
hematology, microbiology, and cytology) and of the chemistry,
biology, and anatomy involved.
``(2) Medical technologist.--An employee whose position is
in the GS-0644 occupational series. Such a position may involve
one or more of the following:
``(A) Technical work subordinate to the work of
pathologists or other physicians (or other professional
employee) who make the final diagnostic examinations of
specimens of human tissues or cell preparations).
``(B) Technician work in histopathology involving
preparation of thin sections of tissue specimens
including fixing, clear, infiltrating, embedding,
sectioning, staining, and mounting.
``(C) Technician work in cytology involving
preparation, staining, and examining microscopically
specimens of body fluids, secretions, and exudiations
from any part of the body to determine whether cellar
structure is normal, atypical, or abnormal.
``(D) Work requiring a practical knowledge of the
techniques of anatomical laboratory practice in one or
both of the areas of laboratory work (i.e.
histopathology and cytology) and of the chemistry,
biology, and anatomy involved.
``(3) Diagnostic radiologic technologist or technician.--An
employee whose position is in the GS-0647 occupational series.
Such a position may involve one or more of the following:
``(A) Performing most routine diagnostic
radiographic procedures under general supervision and
gains experience in the performance of more difficult
techniques and procedures by assisting higher grade
technologists.
``(B) Operating radiographic equipment to produce
x-ray films of chest, joints, feet, hands, long bones
of arms and legs, and other routine views of other
parts of the body.
``(C) Working with outpatients or ambulatory
patients, positions patients, and sets technical
factors in accordance with standardized procedures and
techniques.
``(D) Performing a variety of difficult
radiographic examinations.
``(E) Receiving patients, explaining method of
procedure, positions patient, selecting and setting
technical factors, setting up and adjusting accessory
equipment required, and making exposures necessary for
the requested procedure.
``(c) Modifications.--The Secretary shall carry out the intent of
this section so that it applies to--
``(1) subsequent or additional occupational series
designations or redesignations; and
``(2) modified or additional employee descriptions as such
modifications or additions are necessary to correspond with
technological advancements.
``(d) Exception For Rate of On-Call Pay.--An employee who is
eligible for on-call pay under subsection (a) and who was receiving
standby premium pay pursuant to section 5545 of title 5 on May 20,
1988, shall, as long as such employee is employed in the same position
and work unit and remains eligible for such standby pay, receive pay
for any period of on-call duty at the rate equal to the greater of--
``(1) the rate of pay which such employee would receive if
being paid the rate of standby pay pursuant to such section
that such individual would be entitled to receive if such
individual were not scheduled to be on call instead, or
``(2) the rate of pay which such employee is entitled to
receive including on-call premium pay described in subsection
(a).''.
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