[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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