[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2914 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2914

    To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for 
     appropriate incentive payments under the medicare program for 
          physicians' services furnished in underserved areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 9, 2002

Mr. Rockefeller 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 provide for 
     appropriate incentive payments under the medicare program for 
          physicians' services furnished in underserved areas.

    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 Incentive Payment Program 
Refinement Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. REVISION OF INCENTIVE PAYMENTS FOR PHYSICIANS' SERVICES 
              FURNISHED IN UNDERSERVED AREAS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1833(m) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395l(m)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(m) Incentive Payments for Physicians' Services Furnished in 
Underserved Areas.--
            ``(1) In general.--In the case of physicians' services 
        furnished by a physician with an applicable physician specialty 
        to an individual who is enrolled under this part and who incurs 
        expenses for such services in an area that is designated under 
        section 332(a)(1)(A) of the Public Health Service Act as a 
        health professional shortage area, in addition to the amount 
        otherwise paid under this part, there also shall be paid to the 
        physician (or to an employer or facility in the cases described 
        in clause (A) of section 1842(b)(6)) (on a quarterly basis) 
        from the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, an 
        amount equal to 20 percent of the payment amount for the 
        service under this part.
            ``(2) Applicable physician specialty defined.--In this 
        subsection, the term `applicable physician specialty' means, 
        with respect to a physician, the primary specialty of that 
        physician if the specialty is one of the following:
                    ``(A) General practice.
                    ``(B) Family practice.
                    ``(C) Pediatric medicine.
                    ``(D) General internal medicine.
                    ``(E) Obstetrics and gynecology.
                    ``(F) General surgery.
                    ``(G) Emergency medicine.
            ``(3) Automation of incentive payments.--The Secretary 
        shall establish procedures under which the Secretary shall 
        automatically make the payments required to be made under 
        paragraph (1) to each physician who is entitled to receive such 
        a payment. Such procedures shall not require the physician 
        furnishing the service to be responsible for determining when a 
        payment is required to be made under that paragraph.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to services furnished on or after January 1, 2003, 
in an area designated under section 332(a)(1)(A) of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254e(a)(1)(A)) as a health professional shortage 
area.
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