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[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2037 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2037

 To amend title XVIII to strengthen ambulance services furnished under 
                    part B of the Medicare program.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 10, 2021

Ms. Cortez Masto (for herself, Ms. Collins, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Cassidy, 
 Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Sanders) introduced the following bill; which was 
          read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To amend title XVIII to strengthen ambulance services furnished under 
                    part B of the Medicare program.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Access 
to Ground Ambulance Medical Services Act of 2021''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
         TITLE I--PROTECT ACCESS TO HIGH QUALITY AMBULANCE CARE

Sec. 101. Protecting patient access to ground ambulance services.
 TITLE II--PROTECT ACCESS TO GROUND AMBULANCE SERVICES IN RURAL AMERICA

Sec. 201. Protecting access to ambulance services in rural and low 
                            population density areas.

         TITLE I--PROTECT ACCESS TO HIGH QUALITY AMBULANCE CARE

SEC. 101. PROTECTING PATIENT ACCESS TO GROUND AMBULANCE SERVICES.

    Section 1834(l) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(l)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (12)(A), by striking ``2023'' and 
        inserting ``2028''; and
            (2) in paragraph (13)(A), by striking ``2023'' each place 
        it appears and inserting ``2028'' in each such place.

 TITLE II--PROTECT ACCESS TO GROUND AMBULANCE SERVICES IN RURAL AMERICA

SEC. 201. PROTECTING ACCESS TO AMBULANCE SERVICES IN RURAL AND LOW 
              POPULATION DENSITY AREAS.

    Section 1834(l)(12) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395m(l)(12)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraphs:
                    ``(C) Exception for rural and qualified rural 
                areas.--The Secretary shall deem an area designated as 
                a rural or qualified rural area under this paragraph 
                that would otherwise no longer receive such designation 
                to retain its previous designated status if there are 
                1,000 or fewer individuals per square mile in the area.
                    ``(D) Right to appeal rural areas and qualified 
                rural areas.--The Secretary shall establish an 
                administrative appeals process to allow ambulance 
                services providers and suppliers to seek 
                reconsideration of a change in a ZIP code's status as a 
                rural or qualified rural area during the first 12 
                months after the Secretary finalizes a change in the 
                designation made under this paragraph.''.
                                 <all>
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