Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3657 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for payment for services of radiologist assistants under the Medicare program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 1, 2021 Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. CURTIS) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for payment for services of radiologist assistants under the Medicare program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medicare Access to 4 Radiology Care Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3657.IH H3657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3657 IH SEC. 2. MEDICARE PAYMENT FOR RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT 1 SERVICES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1834 of the Social Secu- 3 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m) is amended by adding at the 4 end the following new subsection: 5 ‘‘(z) PAYMENT FOR CERTAIN RADIOLOGIST ASSIST- 6 ANT SERVICES.— 7 ‘‘(1) PAYMENT.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of radiolo- 9 gist assistant services (as defined in subpara- 10 graph (B)) furnished on or after January 1, 11 2021, for which payment is made under the fee 12 schedules established under section 1848, the 13 amount of payment for such services shall equal 14 85 percent of the amount determined under 15 section 1848 for such services when furnished 16 by a radiologist. 17 ‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 18 ‘‘(i) RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT SERV- 19 ICES.—The term ‘radiologist assistant 20 services’ means services furnished as an in- 21 cident to a radiologists’ professional serv- 22 ice— 23 ‘‘(I) performed by a radiologist 24 assistant (as defined in clause (ii)) 25 under the supervision of a radiologist 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3657.IH H3657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3657 IH as an employee of, a leased employee 1 of, or an independent contractor of 2 the supervising radiologist; and 3 ‘‘(II) which the radiologist assist- 4 ant is legally authorized to perform 5 under State law (or the State regu- 6 latory mechanism provided by State 7 law). 8 ‘‘(ii) RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT.—The 9 term ‘radiologist assistant’ means a 10 radiographer who is certified by the Amer- 11 ican Registry of Radiologic Technologists 12 as a registered radiologist assistant or by 13 the Certification Board for Radiology 14 Practitioner Assistants as a radiology prac- 15 titioner assistant to perform radiologic pro- 16 cedures under the supervision of a radiolo- 17 gist. 18 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT IN FACILITY SETTINGS.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 20 provide for payment for radiologist assistant 21 services in a facility setting furnished on or 22 after January 1, 2022. Payment shall be made 23 to the supervising radiologist. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3657.IH H3657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3657 IH ‘‘(B) PAYMENT AMOUNT.—The amount of 1 payment for radiologist assistant services fur- 2 nished in a facility setting shall be the amount 3 determined under paragraph (1). 4 ‘‘(C) FACILITY SETTING DEFINED.—In 5 this paragraph, the term ‘facility setting’ 6 means— 7 ‘‘(i) a hospital or critical access hos- 8 pital; 9 ‘‘(ii) an ambulatory surgical center; 10 and 11 ‘‘(iii) such other providers of services 12 as the Secretary may specify. 13 ‘‘(3) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 14 this subsection shall be construed as affecting— 15 ‘‘(A) coverage of and payment for the tech- 16 nical component (including the technical compo- 17 nent of a global fee) with respect to imaging 18 services under this title as in effect before the 19 date of the enactment of this Act; 20 ‘‘(B) the amount of payment made for ra- 21 diologists’ services under this title when fur- 22 nished solely by a radiologist; or 23 ‘‘(C) the amount of payment made under 24 this title for services furnished by a hospital, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3657.IH H3657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3657 IH critical access hospital, ambulatory surgical cen- 1 ter or any other facility setting specified by the 2 Secretary under paragraph (2)(C)(iii), as the 3 case may be.’’. 4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT FOR PAYMENT TO 5 SUPERVISING RADIOLOGIST.—The first sentence of sec- 6 tion 1842(b)(6) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395u(b)(6)) is 7 amended— 8 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘(J)’’; and 9 (2) by inserting before the period at the end the 10 following: ‘‘, and (K) in the case of radiologist as- 11 sistant services (as defined in section 12 1834(z)(1)(B)(i)), payment shall be made to the su- 13 pervising radiologist’’. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3657.IH H3657 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS