Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medicare Critical Need
GME Protection Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FULL FTE PAYMENT FOR RESIDENTS IN CRITICAL
NEED SPECIALTY OR SUBSPECIALTY TRAIN-
ING PROGRAMS.
(a) TREATMENT AS INITIAL RESIDENCY PERIOD.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 1886(h)(5)(F) of
the 
Social 
Security 
Act 
(42 
U.S.C.
1395ww(h)(5)(F)) is amended—
(A) in clause (i)—
(i) by striking ‘‘clause (ii)’’ and in-
serting ‘‘clauses (ii) and (iii)’’; and
(ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end;
(B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and
(C) by inserting after clause (ii) the fol-
lowing new clause:
‘‘(iii) subject to the requirement for
budget neutrality under paragraph (7), a
period of years during which an individual
is in a residency training program des-
ignated by the Secretary as a critical need
specialty or subspecialty, as defined in sub-
paragraph (K)(i), shall be treated as part
of the initial residency period, but shall not
be counted against any limitation on the
initial residency period.’’.
(2) DETERMINATION OF CRITICAL NEED SPE-
CIALTY OR SUBSPECIALTY.—Section 1886(h)(5) of
such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(5)) is amended by
adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(K) CRITICAL NEED SPECIALITY.—
‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—The term ‘critical
need specialty or subspecialty’ means a
specialty or subspecialty designated by the
Secretary under this subparagraph with a
current or imminent critical shortage of
physicians.
‘‘(ii) CRITERIA.—For purposes of des-
ignating a critical need specialty or sub-
specialty under this subparagraph, the Sec-
retary shall prescribe criteria for deter-
mining critical shortages of physicians or
residents in approved medical residency
training programs. The Secretary shall
publish in the Federal Register the criteria
established under this clause and the form
and manner by which data are submitted
for the Secretary’s review under this sub-
paragraph.
‘‘(iii) PERIOD OF DESIGNATION.—
‘‘(I) IN
GENERAL.—A designa-
tion of a critical need specialty or sub-
specialty under this subparagraph
shall apply beginning with the first
residency training year in which it is
effective and shall continue until the
first residency training year for which
Secretary determines the specialty or
subspecialty does not meet the criteria
for designation as a critical need spe-
cialty or subspecialty.
‘‘(II) REPORT.—If the Secretary
determines that a specialty or sub-
specialty no longer meets the criteria
for being a critical need specialty or
subspecialty, the Secretary shall sub-
mit a report to Congress describing
the reasons for discontinuing the des-
ignation.’’.
(b) MAINTAINING BUDGET NEUTRALITY.—Section
1886(h) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)) is amended
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(7) BUDGET NEUTRALITY ADJUSTMENT FOR CRIT-
ICAL
NEED
SPECIALTY
OR
SUBSPECIALTY
DESIGNA-
TION.—If the Secretary designates a critical need specialty
or subspecialty for a residency training year, the Secretary
shall make a proportional adjustment to payment amounts
under this subsection for such residency training year so
that the aggregate of the payments under this subsection
for the portions of such residency training year occurring
in any fiscal year shall equal the aggregate payments that
would have been made under this subsection for such por-
tions of the fiscal year if the Secretary had not designated
a critical need specialty or subspecialty.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply with respect to payments under
section 1886(h) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
1395ww(h)) made for periods in a residency training pro-
gram for residency training years beginning on or after
on or after July 1, 2002.
Æ