[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5976 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5976

  To provide for a hardship waiver for recoupment of certain Medicare 
                               payments.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2006

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for a hardship waiver for recoupment of certain Medicare 
                               payments.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. HARDSHIP WAIVER FOR RECOUPMENT OF MEDICARE PAYMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the 
case of a facility described in subsection (b), the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services--
            (1) shall waive any recoupment or recovery of alleged 
        medicare overpayments described in subsection (c) in order to 
        permit the facility's continued provision of critical services 
        to its medicare and underserved populations; and
            (2) shall not impose any sanction (including any civil 
        monetary penalty or exclusion from participation in any Federal 
        health care program) against the facility in connection with 
        any cost report filing made by the facility relating to such 
        alleged medicare overpayments.
    (b) Facility Described.--A facility described in this subsection is 
a critical access hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1) of the 
Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 1395x(mm)(1)) that meets the following 
requirements (and includes any skilled nursing facility that is 
contained within the same facility as such critical access hospital):
            (1) Sole acute care hospital facility serving rural, 
        underserved area.--
                    (A) The facility is located in a rural area (as 
                defined for purposes of such section) that is 
                designated under section 330(b)(3)(A) of the Public 
                Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(b)(3)(A)) as an area 
                with a shortage of personal health services.
                    (B) There is no other acute general hospital or 
                critical access hospital that provides inpatient or 
                outpatient hospital services in the county (or 
                equivalent area) in which the facility is located.
            (2) Public facility.--The facility is operated by a 
        political subdivision of a State.
            (3) Improved fiscal management.--The facility has made 
        changes in its management so that tax payments described in 
        subsection (c) are being made in a proper and timely manner.
            (4) Hurricane katrina disaster area.--The county (or 
        equivalent area) in which the facility is located is an area 
        that--
                    (A) has been declared in accordance with section 
                401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
                Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) as a result 
                of Hurricane Katrina; and
                    (B) the President has determined, as of September 
                14, 2005, warrants individual or public assistance from 
                the Federal Government under such Act.
    (c) Medicare Overpayments Described.--
            (1) In general.--The medicare overpayments described in 
        this subsection for a facility are payments made to the 
        facility under title XVIII of the Social Security Act before 
        the date of the enactment of this Act that were attributable to 
        alleged payment of compromised payroll taxes (as defined in 
        paragraph (2)).
            (2) Compromised payroll taxes.--For purposes of paragraph 
        (1), the term ``compromised payroll taxes'' means, with respect 
        to a facility, amounts incurred before the date of the 
        enactment of this Act--
                    (A) that were originally owed by the facility for 
                its share of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act 
                (FICA) and other payroll taxes;
                    (B) that were not paid; and
                    (C) for which the facility is no longer liable 
                under a tax compromise permitted under section 7122 of 
                the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
                                 <all>