[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6399 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6399

 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a Medicare 
    hospital wage index metropolitan floor, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 29, 2016

  Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. Michael F. Doyle of 
Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a Medicare 
    hospital wage index metropolitan floor, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Fixing Medicare Hospital Payments 
Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. CREATING A MEDICARE HOSPITAL WAGE INDEX METROPOLITAN FLOOR.

    Section 1886(d)(3)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395ww(d)(3)(E)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
clause:
                    ``(iv) Floor on area wage index for hospitals in 
                metropolitan areas.--
                            ``(I) In general.--For discharges occurring 
                        on or after October 1, 2017, the area wage 
                        index applicable under this subparagraph to any 
                        hospital which is located in a metropolitan 
                        area (as defined in subclause (II)) may not be 
                        less than 0.94.
                            ``(II) Metropolitan area defined.--For 
                        purposes of this clause, the term `metropolitan 
                        area' means a large urban area (as defined in 
                        paragraph (2)(D)) that has a population of not 
                        less than 2,000,000 individuals, as determined 
                        by the Secretary based on the most recent 
                        available population data published with 
                        respect to such area by the Bureau of the 
                        Census.
                            ``(III) No expenditures over otherwise-
                        applicable fiscal year 2018 levels.--The 
                        Secretary shall implement this clause in a 
                        manner that ensures that the aggregate payments 
                        made under this section to all hospitals 
                        located in metropolitan areas for discharges 
                        occurring in a fiscal year (beginning with 
                        fiscal year 2018) are not greater than the 
                        aggregate payments that would have been made 
                        under this section to such hospitals for such 
                        discharges if such discharges had occurred in 
                        fiscal year 2018 and if this clause had not 
                        applied with respect to such fiscal year 2018. 
                        The Secretary shall implement the preceding 
                        sentence by establishing, pursuant to 
                        rulemaking and applicable with respect to 
                        discharges occurring on or after October 1, 
                        2017, a maximum area wage index that shall be 
                        applicable under this subparagraph to any 
                        hospital located in a metropolitan area.''.
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