[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1544 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1544
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for payment
for services of radiologist assistants under the Medicare program, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 20, 2019
Mr. Boozman (for himself, Mr. Casey, Mr. Daines, and Mr. Tester)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for payment
for services of radiologist assistants under the Medicare program, 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 ``Medicare Access to Radiology Care
Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. MEDICARE PAYMENT FOR 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) radiologist assistant services (as
defined in subsection (kkk)(1));''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``Radiologist Assistant Services; Radiologist Assistant
``(kkk)(1) The term `radiologist assistant services' means
services--
``(A) performed by a radiologist assistant (as defined in
paragraph (2)) under the supervision of a radiologist as an
employee, leased employee, or independent contractor of the
supervising 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 `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 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
radiologist assistant services'' after ``or clinic nurse
specialists''.
(2) Application of fee schedule in hospital, ambulatory
surgical center settings.--Section 1848(a) of such Act (42
U.S.C. 1395w-4(a)) is amended by adding at the end the
following new paragraph:
``(10) Application of fee schedule for radiologist
assistant services in hospital, ambulatory surgical center
settings.--
``(A) In general.--In the case of radiologist
assistant services (as defined in section 1861(kkk)(1))
furnished in a facility setting (as defined in
subparagraph (B)), payment for such services furnished
in such setting shall be made to the supervising
radiologist in an amount determined pursuant to section
1833(a)(1)(O).
``(B) Facility setting defined.--In this paragraph,
the term `facility setting' means--
``(i) a hospital or critical access
hospital;
``(ii) an ambulatory surgical center; and
``(iii) such other providers of services as
the Secretary may specify.''.
(3) 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 ``(J)''; and
(B) by inserting before the period at the end the
following: ``, and (K) in the case of services
described in clause (iii) of section 1861(s)(2)(K)
(relating to radiologist assistant services), payment
shall be made to the supervising radiologist''.
(4) 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;
(B) the amount of payment made for physicians'
services under such title when furnished solely by a
radiologist; or
(C) the amount of payment made under such title for
services furnished by a hospital, critical access
hospital, ambulatory surgical center, or any other
facility setting specified by the Secretary under
section 1848(a)(10)(B)(iii) of the Social Security Act
(as added by paragraph (3)), as the case may be.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to services furnished on or after January 1, 2020.
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