I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1233 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a bad debt deduction 

to doctors to partially offset the cost of providing uncompensated care 

required to be provided under the amendments made by the Emergency 

Medical Treatment and Labor Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2007 

Mrs. BONO 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 allow a 

bad debt deduction to doctors to partially offset the 

cost of providing uncompensated care required to be 

provided under the amendments made by the Emergency 

Medical Treatment and Labor Act. 

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 ‘‘Mitigating the Impact 

5 of Uncompensated Service and Time Act of 2007’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. BAD DEBT DEDUCTION FOR DOCTORS TO PAR2 TIALLY OFFSET THE COST OF PROVIDING UN3 COMPENSATED CARE REQUIRED TO BE PRO4 VIDED UNDER AMENDMENTS MADE BY THE 

5 EMERGENCY MEDICAL TREATMENT AND 

6 LABOR ACT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 166 of the Internal Rev8 enue Code of 1986 (relating to bad debts) is amended by 

9 redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g) and by in10 serting after subsection (e) the following new subsection: 

11 ‘‘(f) BAD DEBT TREATMENT FOR DOCTORS TO PAR12 TIALLY OFFSET COST OF PROVIDING UNCOMPENSATED

13 CARE REQUIRED TO BE PROVIDED.— 

14 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT OF DEDUCTION.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of sub16 section (a), the basis for determining the 

17 amount of any deduction for an eligible 

18 EMTALA debt shall be treated as being equal 

19 to the Medicare payment amount. 

20 ‘‘(B) MEDICARE PAYMENT AMOUNT.—For 

21 purposes of subparagraph (A), the Medicare 

22 payment amount with respect to an eligible 

23 EMTALA debt is the fee schedule amount es24 tablished under section 1848 of the Social Secu25 rity Act for the physicians’ service (to which 

26 such debt relates) as if the service were promstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 vided to an individual enrolled under part B of 

2 title XVIIII of such Act. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE EMTALA DEBT.—For purposes 

4 of this section, the term ‘eligible EMTALA debt’ 

5 means any debt if— 

6 ‘‘(A) such debt arose as a result of physi7 cians’ services— 

8 ‘‘(i) which were performed in an 

9 EMTALA hospital by a board-certified 

10 physician (whether as part of medical 

11 screening or necessary stabilizing treat12 ment and whether as an emergency depart13 ment physician, as an on-call physician, or 

14 otherwise), and 

15 ‘‘(ii) which were required to be pro16 vided under section 1867 of the Social Se17 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395dd), and 

18 ‘‘(B) such debt is owed— 

19 ‘‘(i) to such physician, or 

20 ‘‘(ii) to an entity if— 

21 ‘‘(I) such entity is a corporation 

22 and the sole shareholder of such cor23 poration is such physician, or 

24 ‘‘(II) such entity is a partnership 

25 and any deduction under this submstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 section with respect to such debt is al2 located to such physician or to an en3 tity described in subclause (I). 

4 ‘‘(3) BOARD-CERTIFIED PHYSICIAN.—For pur5 poses of this subsection, the term ‘board-certified 

6 physician’ means any physician (as defined in sec7 tion 1861(r) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

8 1395x(r)) who is certified by the American Board of 

9 Emergency Medicine or other appropriate medical 

10 specialty board for the specialty in which the physi11 cian practices, or who meets comparable require12 ments, as identified by the Secretary of the Treasury 

13 in consultation with Secretary of Health and Human 

14 Services. 

15 ‘‘(4) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 

16 this subsection— 

17 ‘‘(A) EMTALA HOSPITAL.—The term 

18 ‘EMTALA hospital’ means any hospital having 

19 a hospital emergency department which is re20 quired to comply with section 1867 of the So21 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395dd) (relating 

22 to examination and treatment for emergency 

23 medical conditions and women in labor). 

24 ‘‘(B) PHYSICIANS’ SERVICES.—The term 

25 ‘physicians’ services’ has the meaning given 

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1 such term in section 1861(q) of the Social Se2 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(q)).’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section shall apply to debts arising from services per5 formed in taxable years beginning after the date of the 

6 enactment of this Act. 

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