I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2996

To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to require that certain 

technical medical employees of the Indian Health Service be compensated 

for time during which they are required to be on-call. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 3, 2003

Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to require that certain technical medical employees of the 

Indian Health Service be compensated for time during 

which they are required to be on-call.

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

3 SECTION 1. ON-CALL PAY FOR CERTAIN TECHNICAL MED4 ICAL EMPLOYEES. 

5 Title I of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act 

6 (25 U.S.C. 1611 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following new section: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 125. ON-CALL PAY FOR CERTAIN TECHNICAL MED2 ICAL EMPLOYEES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pay a tech4 nical medical employee of the Service for such time as the 

5 technical medical employee is officially scheduled to be on 

6 call outside such technical medical employee’s regular 

7 hours or on a holiday designated by Federal statute or 

8 Executive order for such time as the technical medical em9 ployee may be called back to work at a rate that is equal 

to 10 percent of the amount that is equal to one and 1 10 ⁄2

11 times such technical medical employee’s hourly rate of 

12 basic pay. 

13 ‘‘(b) TECHNICAL MEDICAL EMPLOYEE.—For the 

14 purposes of this section, the term ‘technical medical em15 ployee’ includes the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) MEDICAL TECHNICIAN.—An employee 

17 whose position is in the GS–0645 occupational se18 ries. Such a position may involve nonprofessional 

19 technical work in clinical (medical) laboratories such 

20 as performing tests and examinations in one or more 

21 areas of work (such as chemistry, blood banking, he22 matology, or microbiology) where the reports of find23 ings of tests and examinations may be used by phy24 sicians in diagnosis, care and treatment of patients, 

25 or in support of medical research. The work may re26 quire a practical knowledge of the techniques of 
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1 medical laboratory practice in one or more areas of 

2 clinical laboratory work (e.g., blood banking, chem3 istry, hematology, microbiology, and cytology) and of 

4 the chemistry, biology, and anatomy involved. 

5 ‘‘(2) MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIST.—An employee 

6 whose position is in the GS–0644 occupational se7 ries. Such a position may involve one or more of the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(A) Technical work subordinate to the 

10 work of pathologists or other physicians (or 

11 other professional employee) who make the final 

12 diagnostic examinations of specimens of human 

13 tissues or cell preparations). 

14 ‘‘(B) Technician work in histopathology in15 volving preparation of thin sections of tissue 

16 specimens including fixing, clear, infiltrating, 

17 embedding, sectioning, staining, and mounting. 

18 ‘‘(C) Technician work in cytology involving 

19 preparation, staining, and examining micro20 scopically specimens of body fluids, secretions, 

21 and exudiations from any part of the body to 

22 determine whether cellar structure is normal, 

23 atypical, or abnormal. 

24 ‘‘(D) Work requiring a practical knowledge 

25 of the techniques of anatomical laboratory prac-
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1 tice in one or both of the areas of laboratory 

2 work (i.e. histopathology and cytology) and of 

3 the chemistry, biology, and anatomy involved. 

4 ‘‘(3) DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGIST

5 OR TECHNICIAN.—An employee whose position is in 

6 the GS–0647 occupational series. Such a position 

7 may involve one or more of the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) Performing most routine diagnostic 

9 radiographic procedures under general super10 vision and gains experience in the performance 

11 of more difficult techniques and procedures by 

12 assisting higher grade technologists. 

13 ‘‘(B) Operating radiographic equipment to 

14 produce x-ray films of chest, joints, feet, hands, 

15 long bones of arms and legs, and other routine 

16 views of other parts of the body. 

17 ‘‘(C) Working with outpatients or ambula18 tory patients, positions patients, and sets tech19 nical factors in accordance with standardized 

20 procedures and techniques. 

21 ‘‘(D) Performing a variety of difficult radi22 ographic examinations. 

23 ‘‘(E) Receiving patients, explaining method 

24 of procedure, positions patient, selecting and 

25 setting technical factors, setting up and adjust-
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1 ing accessory equipment required, and making 

2 exposures necessary for the requested proce3 dure. 

4 ‘‘(c) MODIFICATIONS.—The Secretary shall carry out 

5 the intent of this section so that it applies to—

6 ‘‘(1) subsequent or additional occupational se7 ries designations or redesignations; and 

8 ‘‘(2) modified or additional employee descrip9 tions as such modifications or additions are nec10 essary to correspond with technological advance11 ments. 

12 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTION FOR RATE OF ON-CALL PAY.—An 

13 employee who is eligible for on-call pay under subsection 

14 (a) and who was receiving standby premium pay pursuant 

15 to section 5545 of title 5 on May 20, 1988, shall, as long 

16 as such employee is employed in the same position and 

17 work unit and remains eligible for such standby pay, re18 ceive pay for any period of on-call duty at the rate equal 

19 to the greater of—

20 ‘‘(1) the rate of pay which such employee would 

21 receive if being paid the rate of standby pay pursu22 ant to such section that such individual would be en23 titled to receive if such individual were not scheduled 

24 to be on call instead, or 
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1 ‘‘(2) the rate of pay which such employee is en2 titled to receive including on-call premium pay de3 scribed in subsection (a).’’.

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