II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2641 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for payment 

for services of radiologist assistants under the Medicare program, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 5, 2021 

Mr. BOOZMAN (for himself, Mr. CASEY, and Mr. DAINES) 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 provide 

for payment for services of radiologist assistants under 

the Medicare program, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Medicare Access to 

5 Radiology Care Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MEDICARE PAYMENT FOR RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT 

2 SERVICES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1834 of the Social Secu4 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m) is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(z) PAYMENT FOR CERTAIN RADIOLOGIST ASSIST7 ANT SERVICES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) PAYMENT.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of radiolo10 gist assistant services (as defined in subpara11 graph (B)) furnished on or after January 1, 

12 2022, for which payment is made under the fee 

13 schedules established under section 1848, the 

14 amount of payment for such services shall equal 

15 85 percent of the amount determined under 

16 section 1848 for such services when furnished 

17 by a radiologist. 

18 ‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

19 ‘‘(i) RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT SERV20 ICES.—The term ‘radiologist assistant 

21 services’ means services furnished as an in22 cident to a radiologists’ professional serv23 ice— 

24 ‘‘(I) performed by a radiologist 

25 assistant (as defined in clause (ii)) 

26 under the supervision of a radiologist 


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1 as an employee of, a leased employee 

2 of, or an independent contractor of 

3 the supervising radiologist; and 

4 ‘‘(II) which the radiologist assist5 ant is legally authorized to perform 

6 under State law (or the State regu7 latory mechanism provided by State 

8 law). 

9 ‘‘(ii) RADIOLOGIST ASSISTANT.—The 

10 term ‘radiologist assistant’ means a 

11 radiographer who is certified by the Amer12 ican Registry of Radiologic Technologists 

13 as a registered radiologist assistant or by 

14 the Certification Board for Radiology 

15 Practitioner Assistants as a radiology prac16 titioner assistant to perform radiologic pro17 cedures under the supervision of a radiolo18 gist. 

19 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT IN FACILITY SETTINGS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

21 provide for payment for radiologist assistant 

22 services in a facility setting furnished on or 

23 after January 1, 2022. Payment shall be made 

24 to the supervising radiologist. 


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1 ‘‘(B) PAYMENT AMOUNT.—The amount of 

2 payment for radiologist assistant services fur3 nished in a facility setting shall be the amount 

4 determined under paragraph (1). 

5 ‘‘(C) FACILITY SETTING DEFINED.—In 

6 this paragraph, the term ‘facility setting’ 

7 means— 

8 ‘‘(i) a hospital or critical access hos9 pital; 

10 ‘‘(ii) an ambulatory surgical center; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(iii) such other providers of services 

13 as the Secretary may specify. 

14 ‘‘(3) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

15 this subsection shall be construed as affecting— 

16 ‘‘(A) coverage of and payment for the tech17 nical component (including the technical compo18 nent of a global fee) with respect to imaging 

19 services under this title as in effect before the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act; 

21 ‘‘(B) the amount of payment made for ra22 diologists’ services under this title when fur23 nished solely by a radiologist; or 

24 ‘‘(C) the amount of payment made under 

25 this title for services furnished by a hospital, 


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1 critical access hospital, ambulatory surgical cen2 ter, or any other facility setting specified by the 

3 Secretary under paragraph (2)(C)(iii), as the 

4 case may be.’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT FOR PAYMENT TO

6 SUPERVISING RADIOLOGIST.—The first sentence of sec7 tion 1842(b)(6) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395u(b)(6)) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘(J)’’; and 

10 (2) by inserting before the period at the end the 

11 following: ‘‘, and (K) in the case of radiologist as12 sistant services (as defined in section 

13 1834(z)(1)(B)(i)), payment shall be made to the su14 pervising radiologist’’. 

Æ 


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