I 112th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5624 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 8, 2012 Mrs. McMorris Rodgers 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 protect and preserve access of Medicare beneficiaries in rural areas to health care providers under the Medicare program, to amend title III of the Public Health Service Act to extend discounts under the 340B program, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Rural Hospital and Provider Equity and 340B Improvement Act of 2012. (b)

Table of Contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Title I—Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Sec. 101. Sense of the Congress. Sec. 102. Fairness in the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustment for rural hospitals. Sec. 103. Extension and expansion of the Medicare hold harmless provision under the prospective payment system for hospital outpatient department (HOPD) services for certain hospitals. Sec. 104. Temporary improvements to the Medicare inpatient hospital payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals. Sec. 105. Extension of Medicare wage index reclassifications for certain hospitals. Sec. 106. Extension of Medicare reasonable costs payments for certain clinical diagnostic laboratory tests furnished to hospital patients in certain rural areas. Sec. 107. Elimination of isolation test for cost-based ambulance reimbursement for critical access hospitals. Sec. 108. Extension of Medicare incentive payment program for physician scarcity areas. Sec. 109. Extension of floor on Medicare work geographic adjustment. Sec. 110. Improving care planning for Medicare home health services. Sec. 111. Rural health clinic improvements. Sec. 112. Temporary Medicare payment increase for home health services furnished in a rural area. Sec. 113. Extension of increased Medicare payments for rural ground ambulance services. Sec. 114. Extension of payment for technical component of certain physician pathology services. Sec. 115. Facilitating the provision of telehealth services across State lines. Sec. 116. Medicare Part A payment for anesthesiologist services in certain rural hospitals based on CRNA pass-through rules. Sec. 117. Temporary floor on the practice expense geographic index for services furnished in rural areas outside of frontier States under the Medicare physician fee schedule. Sec. 118. Revisions to standard for designation of sole community hospitals. Sec. 119. State offices of rural health. Sec. 120. Ensuring proportional representation of interests of rural areas on MEDPAC. Title II—340B Program Improvement Sec. 201. Extension of discounts to inpatient drugs. Sec. 202. Prohibition against duplicate discounts for physician administered drugs. Sec. 203. Continued inclusion of orphan drugs in definition of covered outpatient drugs; technical amendment. Sec. 204. Application of rules for determining provider-based status for certain entities.