[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3032 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3032

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for payment 
  for services of qualified radiologist assistants under the Medicare 
                                program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 22, 2011

 Mr. Reichert (for himself, Mr. Olson, Mr. Pascrell, and Mr. Matheson) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
   Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and 
 Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for payment 
  for services of qualified radiologist assistants 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 ``Medicare Access to Radiology Care 
Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. MEDICARE PAYMENT FOR QUALIFIED RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT SERVICES.

    (a) Coverage.--Section 1861 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395x) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (s)(2)(K)--
                    (A) by striking the semicolon at the end of clause 
                (ii) and inserting a comma; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new clause:
            ``(iii) qualified radiologist assistant services (as 
        defined in subsection (iii)(1)),''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:

   ``Qualified Radiologist Assistant Services; Qualified Radiologist 
                               Assistant

    ``(iii)(1) The term `qualified radiologist assistant services' 
means services--
            ``(A) performed by a qualified radiologist assistant (as 
        defined in paragraph (2)) as an employee, leased employee, or 
        independent contractor of the supervising radiologist under the 
        supervision (as determined by State law) of a radiologist; and
            ``(B) which the radiologist assistant is legally authorized 
        to perform under State law (or the State regulatory mechanism 
        provided by State law).
    ``(2) The term `qualified radiologist assistant' means a 
radiographer who is certified by the American Registry of Radiologic 
Technologists as a registered radiologist assistant or by the 
Certification Board for Radiology Practitioner Assistants as a 
radiology practitioner assistant to perform radiologic procedures under 
the supervision (as determined by State law) of a radiologist.''.
    (b) Payment in Relation to Physician Fee Schedule.--
            (1) Payment level.--Section 1833(a)(1)(O) of such Act (42 
        U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)(O)) is amended by inserting ``or qualified 
        radiologist assistant services'' after ``or clinic nurse 
        specialists''.
            (2) Payment to supervising radiologist.--The first sentence 
        of section 1842(b)(6) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395u(b)(6)) is 
        amended--
                    (A) by striking ``and'' before ``(H)''; and
                    (B) by inserting before the period at the end the 
                following: ``, and (I) in the case of qualified 
                radiologist assistant services, the payment shall be 
                made to the supervising radiologist''.
            (3) Rules of construction.--Nothing in this section, or the 
        amendments made by this section, shall be construed as 
        affecting--
                    (A) coverage of and payment for the technical 
                component (including the technical component of a 
                global fee) with respect to imaging services under 
                title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 
                et seq.) as in effect before the date of the enactment 
                of this Act; or
                    (B) the amount of payment made for physicians' 
                services under such title when furnished solely by a 
                radiologist.
    (c) Review and Report.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
shall conduct a review of the effect of the amendments made by this 
section on patient satisfaction and on the clinical and operational 
effectiveness of the use of radiologist assistants pursuant to such 
amendments, and shall submit to Congress not later than January 1, 
2016, a report to Congress on such review.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to services furnished on or after January 1, 2012.
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