Increasing Access to Quality Cardiac Rehabilitation Care Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2842 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 to expand and expedite access to cardiac rehabilitation programs and pulmonary rehabilitation programs under the Medicare program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 13, 2019 Mrs. CAPITO (for herself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) 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 and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 to expand and expedite access to cardiac rehabilitation programs and pulmonary rehabilitation programs 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 ‘‘Increasing Access to 4 Quality Cardiac Rehabilitation Care Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2842.IS S2842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2842 IS SEC. 2. EXPANDING ACCESS TO CARDIAC REHABILITATION 1 PROGRAMS AND PULMONARY REHABILITA- 2 TION PROGRAMS UNDER MEDICARE PRO- 3 GRAM. 4 (a) CARDIAC REHABILITATION PROGRAMS.—Section 5 1861(eee) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 6 1395x(eee)) is amended— 7 (1) in paragraph (2)— 8 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking ‘‘a 9 physician’s office’’ and inserting ‘‘the office of 10 a physician (as defined in subsection (r)(1)) or 11 the office of a physician assistant, nurse practi- 12 tioner, or clinical nurse specialist (as those 13 terms are defined in subsection (aa)(5))’’; and 14 (B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting after 15 ‘‘physician’’ the following: ‘‘(as defined in sub- 16 section (r)(1)) or a physician assistant, nurse 17 practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist (as 18 those terms are defined in subsection (aa)(5))’’; 19 (2) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ‘‘physician- 20 prescribed exercise’’ and inserting ‘‘exercise pre- 21 scribed by a physician (as defined in subsection 22 (r)(1)) or a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, 23 or clinical nurse specialist (as those terms are de- 24 fined in subsection (aa)(5))’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2842.IS S2842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2842 IS (3) in paragraph (5), by inserting after ‘‘physi- 1 cian’’ the following: ‘‘(as defined in subsection 2 (r)(1)) or a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, 3 or clinical nurse specialist (as those terms are de- 4 fined in subsection (aa)(5))’’. 5 (b) PULMONARY REHABILITATION PROGRAMS.—Sec- 6 tion 1861(fff) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 7 1395x(fff)) is amended— 8 (1) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘physician- 9 prescribed exercise’’ and inserting ‘‘exercise pre- 10 scribed by a physician (as defined in subsection 11 (r)(1)) or a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, 12 or clinical nurse specialist (as those terms are de- 13 fined in subsection (aa)(5))’’; and 14 (2) in paragraph (3), by inserting after ‘‘physi- 15 cian’’ the following: ‘‘(as defined in subsection 16 (r)(1)) or a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, 17 or clinical nurse specialist (as those terms are de- 18 fined in subsection (aa)(5))’’. 19 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 20 this section shall apply with respect to items and services 21 furnished on or after January 1, 2021. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2842.IS S2842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2842 IS SEC. 3. EXPEDITING ACCESS TO CARDIAC REHABILITATION 1 PROGRAMS AND PULMONARY REHABILITA- 2 TION PROGRAMS UNDER MEDICARE PRO- 3 GRAM. 4 Section 51008(c) of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 5 2018 (Public Law 115–123; 42 U.S.C. 1395x note) is 6 amended by striking ‘‘January 1, 2024’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘January 1, 2021’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2842.IS S2842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS