[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1678 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1678

    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a bad debt 
    deduction to doctors to partially offset the cost of providing 
uncompensated care required to be provided under amendments made by the 
               Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 2009

Mrs. Bono Mack introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a bad debt 
    deduction to doctors to partially offset the cost of providing 
uncompensated care required to be provided under amendments made by the 
               Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.

    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 ``Mitigating the Impact of 
Uncompensated Service and Time Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. BAD DEBT DEDUCTION FOR DOCTORS TO PARTIALLY OFFSET THE COST OF 
              PROVIDING UNCOMPENSATED CARE REQUIRED TO BE PROVIDED 
              UNDER AMENDMENTS MADE BY THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL TREATMENT 
              AND LABOR ACT.

    (a) In General.--Section 166 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
(relating to bad debts) is amended by redesignating subsection (f) as 
subsection (g) and by inserting after subsection (e) the following new 
subsection:
    ``(f) Bad Debt Treatment for Doctors to Partially Offset Cost of 
Providing Uncompensated Care Required to Be Provided.--
            ``(1) Amount of deduction.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For purposes of subsection (a), 
                the basis for determining the amount of any deduction 
                for an eligible EMTALA debt shall be treated as being 
                equal to the excess of--
                            ``(i) the Medicare payment amount, over
                            ``(ii) any other compensation received with 
                        respect to such debt.
                    ``(B) Medicare payment amount.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (A), the Medicare payment amount with 
                respect to an eligible EMTALA debt is the fee schedule 
                amount established under section 1848 of the Social 
                Security Act for the physicians' service (to which such 
                debt relates) as if the service were provided to an 
                individual enrolled under part B of title XVIII of such 
                Act.
            ``(2) Eligible emtala debt.--For purposes of this section, 
        the term `eligible EMTALA debt' means any debt if--
                    ``(A) such debt arose as a result of physicians' 
                services--
                            ``(i) which were performed in an EMTALA 
                        hospital by a physician (whether as part of 
                        medical screening or necessary stabilizing 
                        treatment and whether as an emergency 
                        department physician, as an on-call physician, 
                        or otherwise), and
                            ``(ii) which were required to be provided 
                        under section 1867 of the Social Security Act 
                        (42 U.S.C. 1395dd), and
                    ``(B) such debt is owed--
                            ``(i) to such physician, or
                            ``(ii) to an entity if--
                                    ``(I) such entity is a corporation 
                                and the sole shareholder of such 
                                corporation is such physician, or
                                    ``(II) such entity is a partnership 
                                and any deduction under this subsection 
                                with respect to such debt is allocated 
                                to such physician or to an entity 
                                described in subclause (I).
            ``(3) Other definitions.--For purposes of this subsection--
                    ``(A) Emergency department physician.--The term 
                `emergency department physician' means any physician 
                who is recognized as a career emergency physician, as 
                evidenced by membership in the American College of 
                Emergency Physicians, or is certified by the American 
                Board of Emergency Medicine, the American Osteopathic 
                Board of Emergency Medicine, or the American Board of 
                Pediatrics.
                    ``(B) Physician.--The term `physician' has the 
                meaning given such term in section 1861(r) of the 
                Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(r)).
                    ``(C) EMTALA hospital.--The term `EMTALA hospital' 
                means any hospital having a hospital emergency 
                department which is required to comply with section 
                1867 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395dd) 
                (relating to examination and treatment for emergency 
                medical conditions and women in labor).
                    ``(D) Physicians' services.--The term `physicians' 
                services' has the meaning given such term in section 
                1861(q) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
                1395x(q)).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to debts arising from services performed in taxable years 
beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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