Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1970 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 MARCH 28, 2019 Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. OLSON, Mr. KIND, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. SARBANES, and Ms. SEWELL of Alabama) 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 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:25 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1970.IH H1970 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1970 IH SEC. 2. MEDICARE PAYMENT FOR RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT 1 SERVICES. 2 (a) COVERAGE.—Section 1861 of the Social Security 3 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (s)(2)(K)— 5 (A) by striking the semicolon at the end of 6 clause (ii) and inserting a comma; and 7 (B) by adding at the end the following new 8 clause: 9 ‘‘(iii) radiologist assistant services (as 10 defined in subsection (kkk)(1));’’; and 11 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 12 section: 13 ‘‘Radiologist Assistant Services; Radiologist Assistant 14 ‘‘(kkk)(1) The term ‘radiologist assistant services’ 15 means services— 16 ‘‘(A) performed by a radiologist assistant (as 17 defined in paragraph (2)) under the supervision of 18 a radiologist as an employee, leased employee, or 19 independent contractor of the supervising radiolo- 20 gist; and 21 ‘‘(B) which the radiologist assistant is legally 22 authorized to perform under State law (or the State 23 regulatory mechanism provided by State law). 24 ‘‘(2) The term ‘radiologist assistant’ means a 25 radiographer who is certified by the American Registry of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:25 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1970.IH H1970 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1970 IH Radiologic Technologists as a registered radiologist assist- 1 ant or by the Certification Board for Radiology Practi- 2 tioner Assistants as a radiology practitioner assistant to 3 perform radiologic procedures under the supervision of a 4 radiologist.’’. 5 (b) PAYMENT IN RELATION TO PHYSICIAN FEE 6 SCHEDULE.— 7 (1) PAYMENT LEVEL.—Section 1833(a)(1)(O) 8 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)(O)) is amended 9 by striking ‘‘or clinic nurse specialists’’ and inserting 10 ‘‘clinic nurse specialists, or radiologist assistant serv- 11 ices’’. 12 (2) APPLICATION OF FEE SCHEDULE IN HOS- 13 PITAL, AMBULATORY SURGICAL CENTER SET- 14 TINGS.—Section 1848(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15 1395w–4(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 16 following new paragraph: 17 ‘‘(10) APPLICATION OF FEE SCHEDULE FOR 18 RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT SERVICES IN HOSPITAL, 19 AMBULATORY SURGICAL CENTER SETTINGS.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of radiolo- 21 gist assistant services (as defined in section 22 1861(kkk)(1)) furnished in a facility setting (as 23 defined in subparagraph (B)), payment for such 24 services furnished in such setting shall be made 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:25 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1970.IH H1970 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1970 IH to the supervising radiologist in an amount de- 1 termined pursuant to section 1833(a)(1)(O). 2 ‘‘(B) FACILITY SETTING DEFINED.—In 3 this paragraph, the term ‘facility setting’ 4 means— 5 ‘‘(i) a hospital or critical access hos- 6 pital; 7 ‘‘(ii) an ambulatory surgical center; 8 and 9 ‘‘(iii) such other providers of services 10 as the Secretary may specify.’’. 11 (3) PAYMENT TO SUPERVISING RADIOLOGIST.— 12 The first sentence of section 1842(b)(6) of such Act 13 (42 U.S.C. 1395u(b)(6)) is amended— 14 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘(J)’’; and 15 (B) by inserting before the period at the 16 end the following: ‘‘, and (K) in the case of 17 services described in clause (iii) of section 18 1861(s)(2)(K) (relating to radiologist assistant 19 services), payment shall be made to the super- 20 vising radiologist’’. 21 (4) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 22 this section, or the amendments made by this sec- 23 tion, shall be construed as affecting— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:25 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1970.IH H1970 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1970 IH (A) coverage of and payment for the tech- 1 nical component (including the technical compo- 2 nent of a global fee) with respect to imaging 3 services under title XVIII of the Social Security 4 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) as in effect before 5 the date of the enactment of this Act; 6 (B) the amount of payment made for phy- 7 sicians’ services under such title when furnished 8 solely by a radiologist; or 9 (C) the amount of payment made under 10 such title for services furnished by a hospital, 11 critical access hospital, ambulatory surgical cen- 12 ter or any other facility setting specified by the 13 Secretary under section 1848(a)(10)(B)(iii) of 14 the Social Security Act (as added by paragraph 15 (3)), as the case may be. 16 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 17 this section shall apply to services furnished on or after 18 January 1, 2020. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:25 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1970.IH H1970 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS