II
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 236
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 1, 2005
Mr. Nelson of Nebraska (for himself, Ms. Collins, Ms. Cantwell, and Mrs. Murray) 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.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Critical Access to Clinical Lab
Services Act of 2005
.
Clarification of payment for clinical laboratory tests furnished by critical access hospitals
In general
Section 1834(g)(4) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(g)(4)) is amended—
in the heading, by striking No
beneficiary cost-sharing
for
and inserting Treatment
of
; and
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—
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;
such individual is registered as an outpatient on the records of, and receives such services directly from, the critical access hospital; or
payment is (or, but for this subsection, would be) available for such services under the fee schedule established under section 1833(h).
.
Effective date
The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply to cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2003.