Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1544 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 20, 2019 Mr. BOOZMAN (for himself, Mr. CASEY, Mr. DAINES, and Mr. TESTER) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Finance 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 SEC. 2. MEDICARE PAYMENT FOR RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT 6 SERVICES. 7 (a) COVERAGE.—Section 1861 of the Social Security 8 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1544 IS (1) in subsection (s)(2)(K)— 1 (A) by striking the semicolon at the end of 2 clause (ii) and inserting a comma; and 3 (B) by adding at the end the following new 4 clause: 5 ‘‘(iii) radiologist assistant services (as 6 defined in subsection (kkk)(1));’’; and 7 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 8 section: 9 ‘‘Radiologist Assistant Services; Radiologist Assistant 10 ‘‘(kkk)(1) The term ‘radiologist assistant services’ 11 means services— 12 ‘‘(A) performed by a radiologist assistant (as 13 defined in paragraph (2)) under the supervision of 14 a radiologist as an employee, leased employee, or 15 independent contractor of the supervising radiolo- 16 gist; and 17 ‘‘(B) which the radiologist assistant is legally 18 authorized to perform under State law (or the State 19 regulatory mechanism provided by State law). 20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘radiologist assistant’ means a 21 radiographer who is certified by the American Registry of 22 Radiologic Technologists as a registered radiologist assist- 23 ant or by the Certification Board for Radiology Practi- 24 tioner Assistants as a radiology practitioner assistant to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1544 IS perform radiologic procedures under the supervision of a 1 radiologist.’’. 2 (b) PAYMENT IN RELATION TO PHYSICIAN FEE 3 SCHEDULE.— 4 (1) PAYMENT LEVEL.—Section 1833(a)(1)(O) 5 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)(O)) is amended 6 by inserting ‘‘, or radiologist assistant services’’ 7 after ‘‘or clinic nurse specialists’’. 8 (2) APPLICATION OF FEE SCHEDULE IN HOS- 9 PITAL, AMBULATORY SURGICAL CENTER SET- 10 TINGS.—Section 1848(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 11 1395w–4(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 12 following new paragraph: 13 ‘‘(10) APPLICATION OF FEE SCHEDULE FOR 14 RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT SERVICES IN HOSPITAL, 15 AMBULATORY SURGICAL CENTER SETTINGS.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of radiolo- 17 gist assistant services (as defined in section 18 1861(kkk)(1)) furnished in a facility setting (as 19 defined in subparagraph (B)), payment for such 20 services furnished in such setting shall be made 21 to the supervising radiologist in an amount de- 22 termined pursuant to section 1833(a)(1)(O). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1544 IS ‘‘(B) FACILITY SETTING DEFINED.—In 1 this paragraph, the term ‘facility setting’ 2 means— 3 ‘‘(i) a hospital or critical access hos- 4 pital; 5 ‘‘(ii) an ambulatory surgical center; 6 and 7 ‘‘(iii) such other providers of services 8 as the Secretary may specify.’’. 9 (3) PAYMENT TO SUPERVISING RADIOLOGIST.— 10 The first sentence of section 1842(b)(6) of such Act 11 (42 U.S.C. 1395u(b)(6)) is amended— 12 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘(J)’’; and 13 (B) by inserting before the period at the 14 end the following: ‘‘, and (K) in the case of 15 services described in clause (iii) of section 16 1861(s)(2)(K) (relating to radiologist assistant 17 services), payment shall be made to the super- 18 vising radiologist’’. 19 (4) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 20 this section, or the amendments made by this sec- 21 tion, shall be construed as affecting— 22 (A) coverage of and payment for the tech- 23 nical component (including the technical compo- 24 nent of a global fee) with respect to imaging 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1544 IS services under title XVIII of the Social Security 1 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) as in effect before 2 the date of the enactment of this Act; 3 (B) the amount of payment made for phy- 4 sicians’ services under such title when furnished 5 solely by a radiologist; or 6 (C) the amount of payment made under 7 such title for services furnished by a hospital, 8 critical access hospital, ambulatory surgical cen- 9 ter, or any other facility setting specified by the 10 Secretary under section 1848(a)(10)(B)(iii) of 11 the Social Security Act (as added by paragraph 12 (3)), as the case may be. 13 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 14 this section shall apply to services furnished on or after 15 January 1, 2020. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS