S. 455 — Introduced in Senate

II 115th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 455 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 27, 2017Mr. Tester 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 to count resident time spent in a critical access hospital as resident time spent in a nonprovider setting for purposes of making Medicare direct and indirect graduate medical education payments. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Restoring Rural Residencies Act of 2017. 2. Counting resident time spent in a critical access hospital as resident time spent in a nonprovider setting for purposes of making Medicare direct and indirect graduate medical education payments (a) GME Section 1886(h)(4) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(4)) is amended— (1) in subparagraph (E), by striking subparagraphs (J) and (K) and inserting subparagraphs (J), (K), and (L); and (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: (L) Treatment of critical access hospitals Effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after July 1, 2018, such rules shall provide that a critical access hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1)) is deemed to be a nonprovider setting for purposes of determining the hospitals's number of full-time equivalent residents under this subsection. . (b) IME Section 1886(d)(5)(B)(iv)(II) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(5)(B)(iv)(II)) is amended by adding at the end the following sentence: Effective for discharges occurring on or after July 1, 2018, for purposes of this subclause, a critical access hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1)) is deemed to be a nonprovider setting..