Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act of 2008

A bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to preserve beneficiary access to care by preventing a reduction in the Medicare physician fee schedule, to improve the quality of care by advancing value based purchasing, electronic health records, and electronic prescribing, and to maintain and improve access to care in rural areas, and for other purposes.

6/11/2008--Introduced.
Preserving Access to Medicare Act of 2008 - Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act of 2008 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to:
(1) revise the payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals;
(2) extend increased Medicare payments for ground ambulance services;
(3) extend the authorization for Medicare rural hospital flexibility program grants;
(4) provide for rebasing for sole community hospitals; and
(5) extend the rural home health add-on policy through 2009. Revises the formula for payments for physician services to provide an update to the single conversion factor of:
(1) 0.5% for the remainder of 2008; and
(2) 1.1% for 2009. Extends the Physician Assistance and Quality Initiative (PAQI) Fund. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Physician Feedback Program. Revises requirements or provides for:
(1) incentive payments for electronic prescribing and primary care services in physician scarcity areas;
(2) the Medicare anesthesia teaching program;
(3) advanced diagnostic imaging services;
(4) Medicare coverage of items and services under cardiac rehabilitation and pulmonary rehabilitation programs;
(5) phase-out of the indirect costs of medical education (IME) from capitation rates;
(6) quality improvement programs; and
(7) certain prohibitions with respect to marketing of Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans. Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary to establish specified pilot projects regarding chronic kidney disease. Amends the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 to extend the transitional medical assistance (TMA) and abstinence education programs. Amends SSA title XIX to extend:
(1) the qualifying individual program; and
(2) the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotment for Tennessee and Hawaii. Provides for:
(1) asset verification under Medicaid; and
(2) reduction in payments for Medicaid administrative costs to prevent certain payment duplications. Amends the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to extend authority for supplemental grants under SSA title IV part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF). Amends the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 to provide for additional funding for state health insurance assistance programs, area agencies on aging, and aging and disability resource centers. Amends the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to make appropriations for federal reimbursement of eligible providers for emergency health services furnished to undocumented aliens.

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Sponsor

• Sen. Charles Grassley [R, IA]
• and 15 Co-Sponsors
  • Sen. John Barrasso [R, WY]
  • Sen. Jim Bunning [R, KY]
  • Sen. Richard Burr [R, NC]
  • Sen. Thad Cochran [R, MS]
  • Sen. Norm Coleman [R, MN]
  • Sen. Michael Crapo [R, ID]
  • Sen. John Ensign [R, NV]
  • Sen. Michael Enzi [R, WY]
  • Sen. Orrin Hatch [R, UT]
  • Sen. Jon Kyl [R, AZ]
  • Sen. Mitch McConnell [R, KY]
  • Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R, AK]
  • Sen. Ted Stevens [R, AK]
  • Sen. John Sununu [R, NH]
  • Sen. David Vitter [R, LA]
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Amendments

This bill has no amendments.

Amendments to S.3118

Number	Status	Purpose

Bill Status

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Introduced		Voted on by Senate		Voted on by House		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
June 11, 2008

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All Bill Actions

• Added to calendar on Jun 12, 2008: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 776..
• Jun 11, 2008: Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
• Jun 11, 2008: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5526-5529)
• Introduced on Jun 11, 2008.

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Related Issue Areas:

• Welfare
• Tennessee
• Telecommunication
• Technology
• 51 more
• State and local government
• Sexual abstinence
• Rural health
• Rural affairs
• Quality of care
• Prescription pricing
• Physicians
• Old age assistance
• Medicine
• Medicare
• Medically uninsured
• Medical fees
• Medical education
• Medical care
• Medicaid
• Marketing
• Lung diseases
• Kidney diseases
• Immigration
• Immigrant health
• Imaging systems in medicine
• Illegal aliens
• Hospitals
• Hospital rates
• Home care services
• Higher education
• Health insurance
• Hawaii
• Federal aid to health facilities
• Federal aid to education
• Families
• Emergency medicine
• Emergency management
• Electronic data interchange
• Drugs
• Disabled
• Communications
• Communication in medicine
• Chronically ill
• Children
• Cash welfare block grants
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Business
• Budgets
• Appropriations
• Anesthetics
• Ambulances
• Aid to dependent children
• Aged
• Access to health care
• Health policy

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Blog Coverage

July 06, 2008 At Least Wyoming's Senators Support Medicare

Would you please email your own Senator and ask them to support or even co-sponsor the Barasso-Enzi bill (S. 3118)? Thank you. Copyrighted press release from Senators Barasso and Enzi is at LexisNexis ...

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Source: insuranceconsumeradvisor

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June 16, 2008 Senate wrangling stalls physician Medicare payment fix

According to Grassley, his bill (S.3118) was crafted to gain approval from the White House, while Baucus' bill, (S. 3101) the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, ignored the administration's preferences for funding the ...

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Source: EMR Forum

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June 12, 2008 FAILED MEDICARE VOTE

... Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance, made the comment below about the Senate vote on a Medicare bill (S.3101) this afternoon and the refusal of the Senate leadership to allow a vote on an alternative measure (S.3118):

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