[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1242 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1242

 To provide for the treatment of certain hospitals under the Medicare 
                                program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                June 21 (legislative day, June 16), 2011

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the treatment of certain hospitals 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 ``Fair Competition for Hospitals Act 
of 2011''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN HOSPITALS.

    (a) Treatment.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, effective for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 
        2011, for purposes of making payments under section 1886(d) of 
        the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww) to a hospital 
        described in paragraph (2), the wage index that applies to such 
        hospital under such section shall be the highest wage index 
        assigned to hospitals in the core-based statistical area in 
        which the hospital is located (regardless of which State the 
        hospital is located in) as a result of the application of 
        section 4410(a) of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 
        1395ww note).
            (2) Hospital described.--A hospital described in this 
        paragraph is a hospital--
                    (A) that is located in a core-based statistical 
                area which is comprised of counties from more than 1 
                State;
                    (B) that is not located in a core-based statistical 
                area in which 1 or more hospitals are subject to the 
                minimum wage index under paragraph (h)(4) of section 
                412.64 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations; and
                    (C) that is not located in a core-based statistical 
                area in which the highest wage index described in 
                paragraph (1) applies to hospitals described in such 
                paragraph under a State reimbursement system under 
                section 1814(b)(3) or 1886(c) of the Social Security 
                Act (42 U.S.C. 1395f(b)(3); 1395ww(c)).
    (b) Rules.--Any increase in the wage index of a hospital as a 
result of the application of subsection (a) shall be treated as the 
result of a decision of the Medicare Geographic Classification Review 
Board under paragraph (10) of section 1886(d) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)) and subject to budget neutrality under 
paragraph (8)(D) of such section.
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