Pub.L. 108-174 To reauthorize the ban on undetectable firearms. <> ...

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 MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG, IMPROVEMENT, AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2003

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Public Law 108-173
108th Congress

                                 An Act


 
    To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for a 
  voluntary program for prescription drug coverage under the Medicare 
   Program, to modernize the Medicare Program, to amend the Internal 
  Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a deduction to individuals for amounts 
   contributed to health savings security accounts and health savings 
 accounts, to provide for the disposition of unused health benefits in 
   cafeteria plans and flexible spending arrangements, and for other 
              purposes. <<NOTE: Dec. 8, 2003 -  [H.R. 1]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of <<NOTE: Medicare 
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 
2003.>> Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; AMENDMENTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY ACT; REFERENCES TO 
            BIPA AND SECRETARY; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short <<NOTE: 42 USC 1305 note.>> Title.--This Act may be cited 
as the ``Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act 
of 2003''.

    (b) Amendments to Social Security Act.--Except as otherwise 
specifically provided, whenever in division A of this Act an amendment 
is expressed in terms of an amendment to or repeal of a section or other 
provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to that section 
or other provision of the Social Security Act.
    (c) BIPA; <<NOTE: 42 USC 1301 note.>> Secretary.--In this Act:
            (1) BIPA.--The term ``BIPA'' means the Medicare, Medicaid, 
        and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, as 
        enacted into law by section 1(a)(6) of Public Law 106-554.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Health and Human Services.

    (d) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; amendments to Social Security Act; references to 
           BIPA and Secretary; table of contents.

               TITLE I--MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT

Sec. 101. Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Sec. 102. Medicare Advantage conforming amendments.
Sec. 103. Medicaid amendments.
Sec. 104. Medigap amendments.
Sec. 105. Additional provisions relating to medicare prescription drug 
           discount card and transitional assistance program.
Sec. 106. State Pharmaceutical Assistance Transition Commission.
Sec. 107. Studies and reports.
Sec. 108. Grants to physicians to implement electronic prescription drug 
           programs.
Sec. 109. Expanding the work of medicare Quality Improvement 
           Organizations to include parts C and D.
Sec. 110. Conflict of interest study.
Sec. 111. Study on employment-based retiree health coverage.

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                      TITLE II--MEDICARE ADVANTAGE

        Subtitle A--Implementation of Medicare Advantage Program

Sec. 201. Implementation of Medicare Advantage program.

                   Subtitle B--Immediate Improvements

Sec. 211. Immediate improvements.

Subtitle C--Offering of Medicare Advantage (MA) Regional Plans; Medicare 
                          Advantage Competition

Sec. 221. Establishment of MA regional plans.
Sec. 222. Competition program beginning in 2006.
Sec. 223. Effective date.

                     Subtitle D--Additional Reforms

Sec. 231. Specialized MA plans for special needs individuals.
Sec. 232. Avoiding duplicative State regulation.
Sec. 233. Medicare MSAs.
Sec. 234. Extension of reasonable cost contracts.
Sec. 235. Two-year extension of municipal health service demonstration 
           projects.
Sec. 236. Payment by PACE providers for medicare and medicaid services 
           furnished by noncontract providers.
Sec. 237. Reimbursement for federally qualified health centers providing 
           services under MA plans.
Sec. 238. Institute of Medicine evaluation and report on health care 
           performance measures.

          Subtitle E--Comparative Cost Adjustment (CCA) Program

Sec. 241. Comparative Cost Adjustment (CCA) program.

              TITLE III--COMBATTING WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE

Sec. 301. Medicare secondary payor (MSP) provisions.
Sec. 302. Payment for durable medical equipment; competitive acquisition 
           of certain items and services.
Sec. 303. Payment reform for covered outpatient drugs and biologicals.
Sec. 304. Extension of application of payment reform for covered 
           outpatient drugs and biologicals to other physician 
           specialties.
Sec. 305. Payment for inhalation drugs.
Sec. 306. Demonstration project for use of recovery audit contractors.
Sec. 307. Pilot program for national and State background checks on 
           direct patient access employees of long-term care facilities 
           or providers.

                       TITLE IV--RURAL PROVISIONS

             Subtitle A--Provisions Relating to Part A Only

Sec. 401. Equalizing urban and rural standardized payment amounts under 
           the medicare inpatient hospital prospective payment system.
Sec. 402. Enhanced disproportionate share hospital (DSH) treatment for 
           rural hospitals and urban hospitals with fewer than 100 beds.
Sec. 403. Adjustment to the medicare inpatient hospital prospective 
           payment system wage index to revise the labor-related share 
           of such index.
Sec. 404. More frequent update in weights used in hospital market 
           basket.
Sec. 405. Improvements to critical access hospital program.
Sec. 406. Medicare inpatient hospital payment adjustment for low-volume 
           hospitals.
Sec. 407. Treatment of missing cost reporting periods for sole community 
           hospitals.
Sec. 408. Recognition of attending nurse practitioners as attending 
           physicians to serve hospice patients.
Sec. 409. Rural hospice demonstration project.
Sec. 410. Exclusion of certain rural health clinic and federally 
           qualified health center services from the prospective payment 
           system for skilled nursing facilities.
Sec. 410A. Rural community hospital demonstration program.

             Subtitle B--Provisions Relating to Part B Only

Sec. 411. Two-year extension of hold harmless provisions for small rural 
           hospitals and sole community hospitals under the prospective 
           payment system for hospital outpatient department services.
Sec. 412. Establishment of floor on work geographic adjustment.
Sec. 413. Medicare incentive payment program improvements for physician 
           scarcity.

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Sec. 414. Payment for rural and urban ambulance services.
Sec. 415. Providing appropriate coverage of rural air ambulance 
           services.
Sec. 416. Treatment of certain clinical diagnostic laboratory tests 
           furnished to hospital outpatients in certain rural areas.
Sec. 417. Extension of telemedicine demonstration project.
Sec. 418. Report on demonstration project permitting skilled nursing 
           facilities to be originating telehealth sites; authority to 
           implement.

            Subtitle C--Provisions Relating to Parts A and B

Sec. 421. One-year increase for home health services furnished in a 
           rural area.
Sec. 422. Redistribution of unused resident positions.

                      Subtitle D--Other Provisions

Sec. 431. Providing safe harbor for certain collaborative efforts that 
           benefit medically underserved populations.
Sec. 432. Office of Rural Health Policy improvements.
Sec. 433. MedPAC study on rural hospital payment adjustments.
Sec. 434. Frontier extended stay clinic demonstration project.

                 TITLE V--PROVISIONS RELATING TO PART A

                 Subtitle A--Inpatient Hospital Services

Sec. 501. Revision of acute care hospital payment updates.
Sec. 502. Revision of the indirect medical education (IME) adjustment 
           percentage.
Sec. 503. Recognition of new medical technologies under inpatient 
           hospital prospective payment system.
Sec. 504. Increase in Federal rate for hospitals in Puerto Rico.
Sec. 505. Wage index adjustment reclassification reform.
Sec. 506. Limitation on charges for inpatient hospital contract health 
           services provided to Indians by medicare participating 
           hospitals.
Sec. 507. Clarifications to certain exceptions to medicare limits on 
           physician referrals.
Sec. 508. One-time appeals process for hospital wage index 
           classification.

                      Subtitle B--Other Provisions

Sec. 511. Payment for covered skilled nursing facility services.
Sec. 512. Coverage of hospice consultation services.
Sec. 513. Study on portable diagnostic ultrasound services for 
           beneficiaries in skilled nursing facilities.

                 TITLE VI--PROVISIONS RELATING TO PART B

         Subtitle A--Provisions Relating to Physicians' Services

Sec. 601. Revision of updates for physicians' services.
Sec. 602. Treatment of physicians' services furnished in Alaska.
Sec. 603. Inclusion of podiatrists, dentists, and optometrists under 
           private contracting authority.
Sec. 604. GAO study on access to physicians' services.
Sec. 605. Collaborative demonstration-based review of physician practice 
           expense geographic adjustment data.
Sec. 606. MedPAC report on payment for physicians' services.

                     Subtitle B--Preventive Services

Sec. 611. Coverage of an initial preventive physical examination.
Sec. 612. Coverage of cardiovascular screening blood tests.
Sec. 613. Coverage of diabetes screening tests.
Sec. 614. Improved payment for certain mammography services.

                      Subtitle C--Other Provisions

Sec. 621. Hospital outpatient department (HOPD) payment reform.
Sec. 622. Limitation of application of functional equivalence standard.
Sec. 623. Payment for renal dialysis services.
Sec. 624. Two-year moratorium on therapy caps; provisions relating to 
           reports.
Sec. 625. Waiver of part B late enrollment penalty for certain military 
           retirees; special enrollment period.
Sec. 626. Payment for services furnished in ambulatory surgical centers.
Sec. 627. Payment for certain shoes and inserts under the fee schedule 
           for orthotics and prosthetics.
Sec. 628. Payment for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests.
Sec. 629. Indexing part B deductible to inflation.

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Sec. 630. Five-year authorization of reimbursement for all medicare part 
           B services furnished by certain Indian hospitals and clinics.

  Subtitle D--Additional Demonstrations, Studies, and Other Provisions

Sec. 641. Demonstration project for coverage of certain prescription 
           drugs and biologicals.
Sec. 642. Extension of coverage of Intravenous Immune Globulin (IVIG) 
           for the treatment of primary immune deficiency diseases in 
           the home.
Sec. 643. MedPAC study of coverage of surgical first assisting services 
           of certified registered nurse first assistants.
Sec. 644. MedPAC study of payment for cardio-thoracic surgeons.
Sec. 645. Studies relating to vision impairments.
Sec. 646. Medicare health care quality demonstration programs.
Sec. 647. MedPAC study on direct access to physical therapy services.
Sec. 648. Demonstration project for consumer-directed chronic outpatient 
           services.
Sec. 649. Medicare care management performance demonstration.
Sec. 650. GAO study and report on the propagation of concierge care.
Sec. 651. Demonstration of coverage of chiropractic services under 
           medicare.

             TITLE VII--PROVISIONS RELATING TO PARTS A AND B

                    Subtitle A--Home Health Services

Sec. 701. Update in home health services.
Sec. 702. Demonstration project to clarify the definition of homebound.
Sec. 703. Demonstration project for medical adult day care services.
Sec. 704. Temporary suspension of OASIS requirement for collection of 
           data on non-medicare and non-medicaid patients.
Sec. 705. MedPAC study on medicare margins of home health agencies.
Sec. 706. Coverage of religious nonmedical health care institution 
           services furnished in the home.

                 Subtitle B--Graduate Medical Education

Sec. 711. Extension of update limitation on high cost programs.
Sec. 712. Exception to initial residency period for geriatric residency 
           or fellowship programs.
Sec. 713. Treatment of volunteer supervision.

                  Subtitle C--Chronic Care Improvement

Sec. 721. Voluntary chronic care improvement under traditional fee-for-
           service.
Sec. 722. Medicare Advantage quality improvement programs.
Sec. 723. Chronically ill medicare beneficiary research, data, 
           demonstration strategy.

                      Subtitle D--Other Provisions

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