I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3299 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit against 

income tax to physicians who serve a substantial number of medicare 

beneficiaries in rural areas. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 14, 2005 

Mr. GIBBONS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a credit against income tax to physicians who serve a 

substantial number of medicare beneficiaries in rural 

areas. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Physician Incentives 

5 to Serve Rural America Act of 2005’’. 
2 

•HR 3299 IH 

1 SEC. 2. NONREFUNDABLE CREDIT FOR PHYSICIANS SERV2 ING MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN CERTAIN 

3 RURAL AREAS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub5 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

6 1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is 

7 amended by inserting after section 25B the following new 

8 section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 25C. PHYSICIANS SERVING MEDICARE BENE10 FICIARIES IN CERTAIN RURAL AREAS. 

11 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an in12 dividual— 

13 ‘‘(1) who is a physician, and 

14 ‘‘(2) who satisfies the rural area service require15 ment during the taxable year, 

16 there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed 

17 by this chapter for such taxable year an amount equal to 

18 $20,000. 

19 ‘‘(b) CREDIT ALLOWED ONLY ONCE.—The credit al20 lowable by this section for any taxable year shall be al21 lowed only if elected by the taxpayer for such year. The 

22 taxpayer may make an election under this section for any 

23 taxable year only if no election by the taxpayer is in effect 

24 under this section for any prior taxable year. 

25 ‘‘(c) RURAL SERVICE REQUIREMENT.— 
3 

•HR 3299 IH 

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec2 tion, the rural area service requirement is met with 

3 respect to a taxpayer if, during any 2-year period 

4 ending during the taxable year, the taxpayer fur5 nished physicians’ services constituting at least 350 

6 physician encounters (as defined by the Secretary in 

7 consultation with the Secretary of Health and 

8 Human Services)— 

9 ‘‘(A) which are eligible for payment under 

10 medicare, and 

11 ‘‘(B) which are furnished at an office, hos12 pital, or other facility located in a rural area. 

13 ‘‘(2) RURAL AREA.—For purposes of paragraph 

14 (1), the term ‘rural area’ means any 5-digit ZIP 

15 code that is determined, based on Rural-Urban Com16 muting Area (RUCA) codes ZIP code version, which 

17 were developed by the Economic Research Service in 

18 the Department of Agriculture in collaboration with 

19 the Office of Rural Health Policy in the Department 

20 of Health and Human Services— 

21 ‘‘(A) to have a RUCA code of 7 or greater 

22 and is not classified as RUCA code 7.1, 8.1, or 

23 10.1; or 

24 ‘‘(B) to have a RUCA code of 4, 5, or 6, 

25 whose core Urban Cluster (as defined by the 
4 

•HR 3299 IH 

1 Bureau of the Census and as having RUCA 

2 codes 4s) has a total population of less than 

3 30,000, and is not classified as RUCA code 4.1 

4 or 5.1. 

5 The determination under the preceding sentence 

6 shall be made on the basis of the most recent and 

7 available version of the RUCA codes. 

8 ‘‘(d) PHYSICIAN; PHYSICIANS’ SERVICES.—For pur9 poses of this section, the terms ‘physician’ and ‘physicians’ 

10 services’ have the meaning given to such terms by sub11 sections (r)(1) and (q), respectively, of section 1861 of the 

12 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x).’’ 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 for subpart A of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

15 of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relat16 ing to section 25B the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 25C. Physicians serving medicare beneficiaries in certain rural areas.’’. 

17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

19 December 31, 2005, and to periods referred to in section 

20 25C(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added 

21 by this section) ending after such date. 

Æ