A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for direct payment to physician assistants under the Medicare program for certain services furnished by such physician assistants.

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 596 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for direct payment to physician assistants under the Medicare program for certain services furnished by such physician assistants. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 28, 2019 Mr. BARRASSO (for himself and Mr. CARPER) 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 provide for direct payment to physician assistants under the Medicare program for certain services furnished by such physician assistants. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. DIRECT MEDICARE PAYMENT FOR SERVICES 3 FURNISHED BY PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1832(a)(2)(B) of the So- 5 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395k(a)(2)(B)) is amended 6 by adding at the end the following new clause: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S596.IS S596 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 596 IS ‘‘(v) services of a physician assistant 1 but only if no facility or other provider 2 charges or is paid any amounts with re- 3 spect to the furnishing of such services;’’. 4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 5 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to services fur- 6 nished on or after July 1, 2020. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S596.IS S596 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS