[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3609 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3609

  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the 
 treatment of certain physician pathology services under the Medicare 
                                program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 29, 2006

  Mrs. Lincoln (for herself, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Bunning, and Mr. Conrad) 
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 the 
 treatment of certain physician pathology 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 ``Physician Pathology Services 
Continuity Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. PERMANENT TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PHYSICIAN PATHOLOGY SERVICES 
              UNDER MEDICARE.

    Section 1848(i) (42 U.S.C. 1395w-4(i)) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Treatment of certain physician pathology services.--
                    ``(A) In general.--With respect to services 
                furnished on or after January 1, 2007, if an 
                independent laboratory furnishes the technical 
                component of a physician pathology service to a fee-
                for-service medicare beneficiary who is an inpatient or 
                outpatient of a covered hospital, the Secretary shall 
                treat such component as a service for which payment 
                shall be made to the laboratory under this section and 
                not as an inpatient hospital service for which payment 
                is made to the hospital under section 1886(d) or as a 
                hospital outpatient service for which payment is made 
                to the hospital under section 1833(t).
                    ``(B) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Covered hospital.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--The term 
                                `covered hospital' means, with respect 
                                to an inpatient or outpatient, a 
                                hospital that had an arrangement with 
                                an independent laboratory that was in 
                                effect as of July 22, 1999, under which 
                                a laboratory furnished the technical 
                                component of physician pathology 
                                services to fee-for-service medicare 
                                beneficiaries who were hospital 
                                inpatients or outpatients, 
                                respectively, and submitted claims for 
                                payment for such component to a carrier 
                                with a contract under section 1842 and 
                                not to the hospital.
                                    ``(II) Change in ownership does not 
                                affect determination.--A change in 
                                ownership with respect to a hospital on 
                                or after the date referred to in 
                                subclause (I) shall not affect the 
                                determination of whether such hospital 
                                is a covered hospital for purposes of 
                                such subclause.
                            ``(ii) Fee-for-service medicare 
                        beneficiary.--The term `fee-for-service 
                        medicare beneficiary' means an individual who 
                        is entitled to (or enrolled for) benefits under 
                        part A, or enrolled under this part, or both, 
                        but who is not enrolled in any of the 
                        following:
                                    ``(I) A Medicare Advantage plan 
                                under part C.
                                    ``(II) A plan offered by an 
                                eligible organization under section 
                                1876.
                                    ``(III) A program of all-inclusive 
                                care for the elderly (PACE) under 
                                section 1894.
                                    ``(IV) A social health maintenance 
                                organization (SHMO) demonstration 
                                project established under section 
                                4018(b) of the Omnibus Budget 
                                Reconciliation Act of 1987 (Public Law 
                                100-203).
                    ``(C) Reference.--For the provision related to the 
                treatment of certain services furnished prior to 
                January 1, 2007, see section 542 of the Medicare, 
                Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection 
                Act of 2000, as amended by section 732 of the Medicare 
                Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act 
                of 2003.''.
                                 <all>