II 109th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 236 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 1, 2005 Mr. Nelson of Nebraska (for himself, Ms. Collins, Ms. Cantwell, and Mrs. Murray) 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 clarify the treatment of payment under the medicare program for clinical laboratory tests furnished by critical access hospitals.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Critical Access to Clinical Lab Services Act of 2005.

2.

Clarification of payment for clinical laboratory tests furnished by critical access hospitals

(a)

In general

Section 1834(g)(4) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(g)(4)) is amended— (1) in the heading, by striking No beneficiary cost-sharing for and inserting Treatment of; and (2) by adding at the end the following new sentence: “For purposes of the preceding sentence and section 1861(mm)(3), clinical diagnostic laboratory services furnished by a critical access hospital shall be treated as being furnished as part of outpatient critical access services without regard to whether— (A) the individual with respect to whom such services are furnished is physically present in the critical access hospital at the time the specimen is collected; (B) such individual is registered as an outpatient on the records of, and receives such services directly from, the critical access hospital; or (C) payment is (or, but for this subsection, would be) available for such services under the fee schedule established under section 1833(h). . (b)

Effective date

The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply to cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2003.