S.Amdt. 3606

SA 3606. Mr. HICKENLOOPER submitted an amendment intended to be
proposed by him to the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for
fiscal year 2026 for military activities of the Department of Defense,
for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department
of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal
year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:

At the end of subtitle B of title VII, add the following:

SEC. 718. PAYMENT ADJUSTMENTS FOR OUTPATIENT SERVICES FOR
CERTAIN CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS.

(a) Requirement.--Section 1079(i) of title 10, United
States Code, is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new
paragraph (4):
``(4)(A) In addition to amounts paid under paragraph (2),
the Secretary shall pay an annual payment adjustment to a
children's hospital for outpatient services if the Secretary
determines that, with respect to the year covered by the
payment adjustment, the hospital meets one or more of the
following criteria:
``(i) 10 percent or more of the revenue of the hospital
comes from services provided to covered individuals under the
TRICARE program.
``(ii) The hospital received not fewer than 10,000 visits
by covered individuals that were paid under paragraph (2).
``(iii) The hospital has been determined by the Secretary
to be essential for operations of the TRICARE program.
``(B) The amount of the annual payment adjustment paid to a
children's hospital under subparagraph (A) shall be the
amount that is equal to 30 percent of payments made under the
Outpatient Prospective Payment System (or successor system)
to the children's hospital under paragraph (2) during

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the year covered by the annual payment adjustment for
outpatient services provided to covered individuals.
``(C) In this paragraph:
``(i) The term `children's hospital' means a provider of
services provided under a plan covered by this section that
is a children's hospital.
``(ii) The term `covered individual' means a member of the
armed forces serving on active duty or a dependent of such a
member.''.
(b) Methodology and Regulations.--The Secretary of Defense
shall--
(1) develop a payment methodology to determine the amounts
required to be paid under paragraph (4) of section 1079(i) of
title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a); and
(2) prescribe joint regulations to carry out such payments
that are separate from the regulations concerning outpatient
prospective payments pursuant to paragraph (2) of such
section.
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