| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 553 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a floor on |
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| 6 | 6 | | payments to sole community hospitals located in Alaska and Hawaii |
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| 7 | 7 | | under the hospital outpatient prospective payment system. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY12, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. S |
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| 11 | 11 | | ULLIVAN(for himself, Mr. SCHATZ, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced |
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| 12 | 12 | | the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee |
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| 13 | 13 | | on Finance |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish |
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| 16 | 16 | | a floor on payments to sole community hospitals located |
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| 17 | 17 | | in Alaska and Hawaii under the hospital outpatient pro- |
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| 18 | 18 | | spective payment system. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save our Lone Emer-4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | gency Services Act’’ or the ‘‘SOLES Act’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:29 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S553.IS S553 |
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| 25 | 25 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | •S 553 IS |
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| 27 | 27 | | SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF SOLE COMMUNITY HOSPITALS LO-1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | CATED IN ALASKA AND HAWAII UNDER HOS-2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | PITAL OUTPATIENT PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT 3 |
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| 30 | 30 | | SYSTEM. 4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | Section 1833(t) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | 1395l(t)) is amended by adding at the end the following 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | new paragraph: 7 |
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| 34 | 34 | | ‘‘(23) T |
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| 35 | 35 | | REATMENT OF SOLE COMMUNITY HOS -8 |
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| 36 | 36 | | PITALS LOCATED IN ALASKA AND HAWAII .— 9 |
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| 37 | 37 | | ‘‘(A) I |
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| 38 | 38 | | N GENERAL.—If the Secretary deter-10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | mines that the amount of payment under this 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | subsection for covered OPD services furnished 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | by a sole community hospital (as defined in sec-13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | tion 1886(d)(5)(D)(iii)) that is located in Alas-14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ka or Hawaii is less than 94 percent of the rea-15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | sonable costs (as defined in section 1861(v)) of 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | the hospital providing such services, the amount 17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | of payment under this subsection shall be in-18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | creased by the amount of such difference. 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | ‘‘(B) N |
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| 49 | 49 | | O EFFECT ON COPAYMENTS .— 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | affect the copayment amount under paragraph 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (8). 23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ‘‘(C) A |
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| 54 | 54 | | PPLICATION WITHOUT REGARD TO 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | BUDGET NEUTRALITY .—The additional pay-25 |
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| 56 | 56 | | ments made under this paragraph— 26 |
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| 58 | 58 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | •S 553 IS |
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| 60 | 60 | | ‘‘(i) shall not be considered an adjust-1 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ment under paragraph (2)(E); and 2 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ‘‘(ii) shall not be implemented in a 3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | budget neutral manner. 4 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ‘‘(D) R |
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| 65 | 65 | | ULEMAKING.—Not later than 6 5 |
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| 66 | 66 | | months after the date of enactment of this 6 |
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| 67 | 67 | | paragraph, the Secretary shall promulgate regu-7 |
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| 68 | 68 | | lations to carry out this paragraph, which shall 8 |
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| 69 | 69 | | be effective with respect to covered OPD serv-9 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ices furnished on or after the first January 1 10 |
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| 71 | 71 | | after such date.’’. 11 |
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| 72 | 72 | | Æ |
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| 74 | 74 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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