Keep Physicians Serving Patients Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3302 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the accuracy of geographic adjustment factors under the Medicare program and to permanently extend certain adjustments to such factors for certain local- ities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 18, 2019 Ms. FINKENAUER (for herself, Mr. KIND, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, Mr. LAHOOD, and Ms. SEWELL of Alabama) introduced 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 subse- quently 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 improve the accuracy of geographic adjustment factors under the Medicare program and to permanently extend certain adjustments to such factors for certain localities, 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 ‘‘Keep Physicians Serv- 4 ing Patients Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 Jun 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3302.IH H3302 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3302 IH SEC. 2. IMPROVING THE ACCURACY OF GEOGRAPHIC AD- 1 JUSTMENT FACTORS. 2 Section 1848(e)(1)(D) of the Social Security Act (42 3 U.S.C. 1395w–4(e)(1)(D)) is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(D) USE OF ACCURATE DATA.— 5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In establishing in- 6 dices and index values under this para- 7 graph, the Secretary shall use the most re- 8 cent data available relating to practice ex- 9 penses, malpractice expenses, and physi- 10 cian work effort in each fee schedule area. 11 ‘‘(ii) PRACTICE EXPENSE AND WORK 12 INDICES.—In establishing indices and 13 index values under clause (i) or (iii) of 14 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall— 15 ‘‘(I) use the most recent market 16 data available on physician wages, or 17 if available, actual cost data for physi- 18 cian labor; and 19 ‘‘(II) not use nonphysician pro- 20 fessional wage data as a proxy for 21 physician wage data. 22 ‘‘(iii) PRACTICE EXPENSE CALCULA- 23 TION.—In calculating index values under 24 clause (i) of subparagraph (A), the Sec- 25 retary shall use the most recent office rent 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 Jun 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3302.IH H3302 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3302 IH data available or data from Federally 1 qualified health centers (as defined in sec- 2 tion 1861(aa)(4)) expense reports.’’. 3 SEC. 3. FLOOR FOR WORK AND PRACTICE EXPENSE GEO- 4 GRAPHIC INDICES. 5 (a) WORK GEOGRAPHIC INDEX.—Section 6 1848(e)(1)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 7 1395w–4(e)(1)(E)) is amended— 8 (1) by striking ‘‘and before January 1, 2020,’’; 9 and 10 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Any 11 such increase made for purposes of payment for 12 services furnished on or after January 1, 2020, shall 13 not be applied in a budget neutral manner.’’. 14 (b) PRACTICE EXPENSE GEOGRAPHIC INDICES.— 15 Section 1848(e)(1)(I) of the Social Security Act (42 16 U.S.C. 1395w–4(e)(1)(I)) is amended— 17 (1) in the header, by striking ‘‘FOR SERVICES 18 FURNISHED IN FRONTIER STATES’’; 19 (2) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and for purposes 20 of payment for services furnished in any State on or 21 after January 1, 2020,’’ after ‘‘2011,’’; and 22 (3) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘before January 23 1, 2020,’’ after ‘‘furnished’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 Jun 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3302.IH H3302 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS