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[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1362 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1362

 To promote the use of universal product numbers on claims forms used 
             for reimbursement under the medicare program.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 4, 1997

   Mr. Grassley (for himself and Mr. Breaux) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To promote the use of universal product numbers on claims forms used 
             for reimbursement under 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.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Medicare Universal Product Number 
Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. UNIVERSAL PRODUCT NUMBERS ON CLAIMS FORMS FOR REIMBURSEMENT 
              UNDER THE MEDICARE PROGRAM.

    (a) Accommodation of UPNs on Medicare Electronic Claims Forms.--Not 
later than February 1, 2000, all electronic claims forms developed or 
used by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for reimbursement 
under the medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) pursuant to part C of title XI of that Act (42 
U.S.C. 1320d et seq.) or any other law shall accommodate the use of 
universal product numbers (as defined in section 1897(a)(2) of that Act 
(as added by subsection (b))) for covered items (as defined in section 
1834(a)(13) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(a)(13))).
    (b) Requirement for Payment of Claims.--Title XVIII of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) (as amended by section 4015 of 
the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-33; 111 Stat. 337)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:

                   ``use of universal product numbers

    ``Sec. 1897. (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Covered item.--The term `covered item' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 1834(a)(13).
            ``(2) Universal product number.--The term `universal 
        product number' means a number that is--
                    ``(A) affixed by the manufacturer to each 
                individual covered item that uniquely identifies the 
                item at each packaging level; and
                    ``(B) based on commercially acceptable 
                identification standards established by the Uniform 
                Code Council--International Article Numbering System 
                and the Health Industry Business Communication Council.
    ``(b) In General.--No payment shall be made under this title for 
any claim for reimbursement for any covered item unless the claim 
contains the universal product number of the covered item.''.
    (c) Development and Implementation of Procedures.--From the 
information obtained by the use of universal product numbers (as 
defined in section 1897(a)(2) of the Social Security Act (as added by 
section 2(b))) on claims for reimbursement under the medicare program, 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with 
interested parties, shall periodically review the covered items billed 
under the Health Care Financing Administration Common Procedure Coding 
System and adjust such coding system to ensure that functionally 
equivalent covered items are billed and reimbursed under the same 
codes.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (b) shall 
apply to claims for reimbursement submitted on and after February 1, 
2001.

SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

    (a) Study.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
conduct a study on the results of the implementation of the provisions 
in subsections (a) and (c) of section 2 and the amendment to the Social 
Security Act in subsection (b) of that section.
    (b) Reports.--Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services shall submit a report to Congress that contains a detailed 
description of the results of the study conducted pursuant to 
subsection (a), together with the Secretary's recommendations regarding 
the use of universal product numbers (as defined in section 1897(a)(2) 
of the Social Security Act (as added by section 2(b) of this Act)) and 
the use of data obtained from the use of such numbers.
                                 <all>
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