[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H10939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1200
                 RURAL EQUITY PAYMENT INDEX REFORM ACT

  (Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I advise Members that today I am 
introducing the Rural Equity Payment Index Reform Act, a bill that will 
address the difference in reimbursement levels between urban and rural 
physicians and other health professionals. The formulas presently used 
by the Medicare program to reimburse these health professionals for 
beneficiaries' medical care do not accurately measure the cost of 
providing services; and, consequently, Medicare currently pays rural 
providers less than it should for equal work.
  According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 
``physician work'' is the amount of time, skill and intensity a 
physician puts into patients' visits. Physicians and other health care 
providers in rural areas put in as much or even more time, skill and 
intensity into a patient visit as do physicians in urban areas. Yet, 
rural physicians are paid less for their work. This is not only unfair, 
it is discriminatory.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to consider cosponsoring this 
legislation. We do not take it away from the urban health care 
providers. We do adjust upward the formula for rural areas.

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