Protecting Patients Transportation to Care Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2846 To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for the continuing requirement of Medicaid coverage of nonemergency transportation to medically necessary items and services, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 13, 2019 Mr. ISAKSON (for himself and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for the continuing requirement of Medicaid coverage of nonemergency transportation to medically necessary items and services, 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 ‘‘Protecting Patients 4 Transportation to Care Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2846.IS S2846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2846 IS SEC. 2. CONTINUING REQUIREMENT OF MEDICAID COV- 1 ERAGE OF NONEMERGENCY TRANSPOR- 2 TATION TO MEDICALLY NECESSARY ITEMS 3 AND SERVICES. 4 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 1902(a)(10) of the So- 5 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)(10)) is amended— 6 (1) in subparagraph (A), in the matter pre- 7 ceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘and (29)’’ and insert- 8 ing ‘‘, (29), and (30)’’; and 9 (2) in subparagraph (C)(iv), by striking ‘‘and 10 (17)’’ and inserting ‘‘, (17), and (30)’’. 11 (b) DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS AND SERVICES.—Section 12 1905 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d) is amended— 13 (1) in subsection (a)— 14 (A) in paragraph (29), by striking ‘‘and’’ 15 at the end; 16 (B) by redesignating paragraph (30) as 17 paragraph (31); and 18 (C) by inserting after paragraph (29) the 19 following new paragraph: 20 ‘‘(30) subject to subsection (gg), nonemergency 21 transportation to medically necessary items and 22 services, consistent with the requirement of section 23 431.53 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, as 24 in effect as of June 1, 2019; and’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2846.IS S2846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2846 IS (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 1 section: 2 ‘‘(gg) NONEMERGENCY TRANSPORTATION TO MEDI- 3 CALLY NECESSARY ITEMS AND SERVICES.— 4 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL PAR- 5 TICIPATION.—Notwithstanding any other provision 6 of this title, to be eligible for federal financial par- 7 ticipation under this title for expenses incurred as 8 medical assistance or as an administrative expense 9 for nonemergency transportation to medically nec- 10 essary items and services described in subsection 11 (a)(30), the State Medicaid agency of such State 12 must have in place a transportation coordination 13 plan and utilization management guidelines for the 14 design and delivery of nonemergency transportation 15 to medically necessary items and services. 16 ‘‘(2) TRANSPORTATION COORDINATION PLAN.— 17 For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ‘transpor- 18 tation coordination plan’ means a process that pro- 19 vides and improves— 20 ‘‘(A) access to non-emergency transpor- 21 tation to medically necessary items and services 22 to improve— 23 ‘‘(i) attendance at appointments for 24 the furnishing of items and services for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2846.IS S2846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2846 IS which medical assistance is available under 1 this title; and 2 ‘‘(ii) health outcomes; and 3 ‘‘(B) coordination in the planning of trans- 4 portation services provided with Federal assist- 5 ance, including coordination with transportation 6 providers receiving assistance under this title or 7 from other Federal sources.’’. 8 (c) INTERAGENCY TRANSPORTATION COORDINATING 9 COUNCIL ON ACCESS AND MOBILITY.—The Administrator 10 of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shall be 11 a member of the Interagency Transportation Coordinating 12 Council on Access and Mobility established under Execu- 13 tive Order No. 13330 (49 U.S.C. 101 note) and shall par- 14 ticipate fully in the activities of the Council. 15 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 16 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 17 of this Act and shall apply to transportation on or after 18 such date. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2846.IS S2846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS