[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2819 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2819

 To amend part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide 
  for a minimum payment rate by Medicare Advantage organizations for 
  services furnished by a critical access hospital and a rural health 
                   clinic under the Medicare program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 17, 2006

Mr. Coleman (for himself and Mr. Durbin) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide 
  for a minimum payment rate by Medicare Advantage organizations for 
  services furnished by a critical access hospital and a rural health 
                   clinic 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 ``Rural Health Services Preservation 
Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. MINIMUM PAYMENT RATE BY MEDICARE ADVANTAGE ORGANIZATIONS FOR 
              SERVICES FURNISHED BY A CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITAL AND A 
              RURAL HEALTH CLINIC.

    (a) In General.--Section 1857(e) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395w-27(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Minimum payment rate for services furnished by a 
        critical access hospital and a rural health clinic.--A contract 
        under this section between an MA organization and the Secretary 
        for the offering of an MA plan shall require the organization 
        to provide for a payment rate under the plan for inpatient and 
        outpatient critical access hospital services and rural health 
        clinic services furnished to enrollees of the plan and for 
        extended care services furnished by a critical access hospital 
        under an agreement entered into under section 1883 to such 
        enrollees (whether or not the services are furnished pursuant 
        to an agreement between such organization and a critical access 
        hospital or a rural health clinic) that is not less than--
                    ``(A) the applicable payment rate established under 
                part A or part B (which includes the payment of an 
                interim rate and a subsequent cost reconciliation) with 
                respect to the critical access hospital for such 
                inpatient, outpatient, and extended care services or 
                the rural health clinic for such rural health clinic 
                services; or
                    ``(B) if the critical access hospital or the rural 
                health clinic determines appropriate, 103 percent of 
                the applicable interim payment rate established under 
                part A or part B with respect to the critical access 
                hospital for such inpatient, outpatient, and extended 
                care services or the rural health clinic for such rural 
                health clinic services.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to Medicare Advantage contract years beginning on or after 
January 1, 2007.
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