[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2490 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2490

 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure the quality 
of, and access to, skilled nursing facility services under the medicare 
                                program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 9, 2002

  Mr. Torricelli (for himself and Mr. Smith of Oregon) 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 ensure the quality 
of, and access to, skilled nursing facility services under the medicare 
                                program.

    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 Skilled Nursing Beneficiary 
Protection Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE RULES FOR DETERMINING UPDATES UNDER THE 
              PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM FOR SKILLED NURSING FACILITY 
              SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--Section 1888(e)(4)(E) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1395yy(e)(4)(E)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (ii)--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``Subsequent fiscal 
                years'' and inserting ``Through fiscal year 2002'';
                    (B) in the matter preceding subclause (I), by 
                inserting ``unadjusted'' after ``equal to the'';
                    (C) in subclause (III)--
                            (i) by striking ``each of fiscal years 2002 
                        and 2003'' and inserting ``fiscal year 2002''; 
                        and
                            (ii) by striking ``; and'' and inserting a 
                        period; and
                    (D) by striking subclause (IV); and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new clauses:
                            ``(iii) Fiscal year 2003.--For fiscal year 
                        2003, the Secretary shall compute an unadjusted 
                        Federal per diem rate equal to the unadjusted 
                        Federal per diem rate computed under this 
                        subparagraph for fiscal year 2002--
                                    ``(I) as increased for such fiscal 
                                year by an amount equal to the total 
                                spending in such fiscal year, as 
                                estimated by the Secretary, under 
                                section 101(d)(1) of the Medicare, 
                                Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget 
                                Refinement Act of 1999, section 101(a) 
                                of such Act (as amended by section 
                                314(b) of the Medicare, Medicaid, and 
                                SCHIP Benefits Improvement and 
                                Protection Act of 2000), and sections 
                                312(a) and 314(a) of the Medicare, 
                                Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits 
                                Improvement and Protection Act of 2000; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) further increased by the 
                                skilled nursing facility market basket 
                                percentage change for fiscal year 2003.
                            ``(iv) Fiscal year 2004 and subsequent 
                        fiscal years.--For fiscal year 2004 and each 
                        subsequent fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
                        compute an unadjusted Federal per diem rate 
                        equal to the unadjusted Federal per diem rate 
                        computed under this subparagraph for the 
                        previous fiscal year increased by the skilled 
                        nursing facility market basket percentage 
                        change for the fiscal year involved.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 101(d)(2) of the Medicare, 
Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (Appendix F, 
113 Stat. 1501A-325), as enacted into law by section 1000(a)(6) of 
Public Law 106-113, is amended by striking ``The Secretary'' and 
inserting ``Subject to the amendments made by section 2(a) of the 
Medicare Skilled Nursing Beneficiary Protection Act of 2002, the 
Secretary''.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
as permitting the Secretary of Health and Human Services to reduce the 
unadjusted Federal per diem rate for any fiscal year (as computed under 
subparagraph (E) of section 1888(e)(4) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395yy(e)(4))) after the date the Secretary implements a refined 
case mix classification system under subparagraph (G)(i) of such 
section in order to take out the portion of such rate in the fiscal 
year that is attributable to the increase under subparagraph 
(E)(iii)(I) of such section (as added by subsection (a)).
                                 <all>