[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 164 (Friday, November 30, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF THE MEDICARE LABORATORY SERVICES ACCESS ACT OF 2001

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                           HON. PHIL ENGLISH

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 30, 2001

  Mr. ENGLISH. Mr. Speaker, today I will introduce the Medicare 
Laboratory Services Access Act of 2001. I am pleased to be joined in 
introducing this important legislation by my colleague from Florida, 
Representative Peter Deutsch. Laboratory testing is an essential 
component of the health services we provide to our seniors. The health 
care needs of Medicare beneficiaries require them to have assured 
access to the full range of diagnostic laboratory tests. This measure 
would help ensure that the community laboratories that serve our 
nation's seniors have the resources necessary to continue to provide 
life-saving laboratory services. This legislation also seeks to remedy 
a financial burden imposed by new regulations requiring safe needles 
and related practices.
  Laboratory tests facilitate early detection and accurate diagnoses 
which in turn result in more effective and less costly treatment. As a 
majority of the currently available tests to diagnose and treat 
diseases in the Medicare population involve taking and analyzing a 
specimen--or sample--from the beneficiary for laboratory analysis, 
health care providers rely on the accurate and timely collection of 
specimens to ensure adequate diagnosis and treatment. In fact, 
laboratory tests only account for 1.6% of the total Medicare budget but 
are used in 70% of medical decision-making. Yet, underpayment for 
specimen collection currently threatens the ability of community 
laboratories to continue to provide this much-needed service.
  In 1984, Congress established a policy to provide for a ``nominal 
fee'' that was to cover the costs associated with collecting the sample 
on which a clinical diagnostic laboratory test was performed and paid 
for under the Medicare program. That fee was established 17 years ago 
at a rate of $3.00 and has not been increased, even for inflationary 
factors since that time.
  Our nation has seen amazing medical breakthroughs in technology while 
simultaneously the environments in which health care providers work has 
become more and more regulated. Further exacerbating the pressures on 
laboratories is that the available population of phlebotomists--the 
folks trained to draw blood--continues to shrink.
  The combination of increasing costs, eroding reimbursement levels, 
fewer available health care workers with a growing population of 
Medicare beneficiaries threatens the Medicare program's ongoing ability 
to provide essential laboratory services, especially in rural areas and 
remote sites such as nursing homes. In January 2001, the Occupational 
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) implemented new blood borne 
pathogen rules designed to improve worker safety. Yet, no additional 
funds have been provided to implement these requirements.
  While I fully support new requirements for hospitals and other 
health-care facilities to identify and provide safer sharps systems as 
these policies help protect public health, we need to assist 
laboratories with these additional costs. This legislation would 
provide a modest increase in the specimen collection fee--an increase 
that would help offset the costs of these important new regulations and 
recognize inflationary increases over the past 17 years.
  The Medicare Laboratory Services Access Act of 2001 increases the 
Medicare specimen collection payment for FY 2002 to $5.25--the amount 
the payment would be today had it been indexed annually to the CPI-U. 
For subsequent years, the bill allows for an annual adjustment based on 
the CPI-U.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in the effort to bolster our 
community-based system of care for Medicare beneficiaries. I am pleased 
that my bill is supported by a number of national organizations, 
including the leading providers of clinical laboratory services. Groups 
endorsing this legislation include: American Association of 
Bioanalysts, the American Association for Clinical Chemists, the 
American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, the American 
Clinical Laboratory Association, the American Medical Technologists, 
the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, the American 
Society of Clinical Pathologists, the American Society for 
Microbiology, Becton Dickinson, and Quest Diagnostics. This important 
measure will help ensure Medicare beneficiaries access to the quality 
laboratory services they need and deserve.

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