[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1901 Introduced in House (IH)]







                                    


107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1901

  To modify the manner in which the wage index adjustment to payments 
under the Medicare Program to hospitals for inpatient hospital services 
                             is calculated.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2001

   Mr. Kind introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To modify the manner in which the wage index adjustment to payments 
under the Medicare Program to hospitals for inpatient hospital services 
                             is calculated.

    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 ``Medicare Equitable Payment 
Enhancement Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF CALCULATION OF MEDICARE INPATIENT HOSPITAL WAGE 
              INDEX.

    (a) In General.--Effective with respect to cost reporting periods 
beginning on or after October 1, 2002, in determining what proportion 
of operating costs of inpatient hospital services (as defined in 
section 1886(a)(4) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(a)(4))) 
are attributable to wages and wage-related costs, the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall exclude the following cost categories:
            (1) ``Professional fees''.
            (2) ``Postal services''.
            (3) Under the cost category of ``All other labor 
        intensive'', the following:
                    (A) ``Business services''.
                    (B) ``Computer and data processing''.
                    (C) ``Other membership organizations''.
    (b) Use of More Recent Data in Updating the Wage Index.--The 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, in updating the factor 
(established by the Secretary) reflecting the relative hospital wage 
level in the geographic area of a hospital compared to the national 
average hospital wage level under the second sentence of section 
1886(d)(3)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(3)(E)) 
for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall use data from the cost reports 
beginning during the third fiscal year that precedes the fiscal year 
involved.
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