[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2426 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2426
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify the
treatment of payment under the medicare program for clinical laboratory
tests furnished by critical access hospitals.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 17, 2004
Mr. Nelson of Nebraska (for himself and Ms. Collins) 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 clarify the
treatment of payment under the medicare program for clinical laboratory
tests furnished by critical access hospitals.
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 ``Critical Access to Clinical Lab
Services Act of 2004''.
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF PAYMENT FOR CLINICAL LABORATORY TESTS
FURNISHED BY CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS.
(a) In General.--Section 1834(g)(4) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 1395m(g)(4)) is amended--
(1) in the heading, by striking ``No beneficiary cost-
sharing for'' and inserting ``Treatment of''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sentence: ``For
purposes of the preceding sentence and section 1861(mm)(3),
clinical diagnostic laboratory services furnished by a critical
access hospital shall be treated as being furnished as part of
outpatient critical access services without regard to whether--
``(A) the individual with respect to whom such
services are furnished is physically present in the
critical access hospital at the time the specimen is
collected;
``(B) such individual is registered as an
outpatient on the records of, and receives such
services directly from, the critical access hospital;
or
``(C) payment is (or, but for this subsection,
would be) available for such services under the fee
schedule established under section 1833(h).''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
apply to cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2003.
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