[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1347 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1347

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act with respect to the 
   treatment of patient encounters in ambulatory surgical centers in 
        determining meaningful EHR use, 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 ``Electronic Health Fairness Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Ambulatory surgery centers were not covered under the 
        provisions of the HITECH Act of 2009, which created 
        certification standards and incentives for adopting electronic 
        health record (EHR) technology in the physician office and 
        hospital settings.
            (2) The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 
        defines a meaningful EHR user as an eligible professional 
        having 50 percent or more of the professional's outpatient 
        encounters at practices or locations equipped with certified 
        EHR technology.
            (3) Physicians with patient encounters in an ambulatory 
        surgical center are at a disadvantage when attempting to meet 
        meaningful use requirements because there currently is not 
        certified EHR technology for such centers.
            (4) Until such time as EHR technology is certified 
        specifically for use in the ambulatory surgical centers, 
        patient encounters that occur in such a center should not be 
        used when calculating whether an eligible professional meets 
        meaningful use requirements, unless an eligible professional 
        elects to include those encounters.

SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF PATIENT ENCOUNTERS IN AMBULATORY SURGICAL CENTERS 
              IN DETERMINING MEANINGFUL EHR USE.

    Section 1848(o)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-
4(o)(2)) is amended by adding at the end of the following new 
subparagraph:
                    ``(E) Treatment of patient encounters at ambulatory 
                surgical centers.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), 
                        for a payment year after 2015, any patient 
                        encounter of an eligible professional occurring 
                        at an ambulatory surgical center (described in 
                        section 1833(i)(1)(A)) shall not be treated as 
                        a patient encounter in determining whether an 
                        eligible professional qualifies as a meaningful 
                        EHR user. Notwithstanding any other provision 
                        of law, the Secretary may implement this clause 
                        by program instruction or otherwise.
                            ``(ii) Sunset.--Clause (i) shall no longer 
                        apply as of the first payment year that begins 
                        more than 3 years after the date the Secretary 
                        determines, through notice and comment 
                        rulemaking, that certified EHR technology is 
                        applicable to the ambulatory surgical center 
                        setting.''.

            Passed the Senate August 5, 2015.

            Attest:

                                                             Secretary.
114th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                                S. 1347

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act with respect to the 
   treatment of patient encounters in ambulatory surgical centers in 
        determining meaningful EHR use, and for other purposes.