Title: PACT Act
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Patient Access to Cellular Transplant Act or the PACT Act
This bill specifies that payment under Medicare to a hospital for the acquisition costs of an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (e.g., bone marrow transplant from a donor) must be made on a reasonable cost basis (similar to the current payment methodology for solid organ acquisitions). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must determine included items through regulations.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1268 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1268

    To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure that 
hospitals receive adequate payment for the acquisition of hematopoietic 
     stem cells under the Medicare program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2019

Ms. Stabenow (for herself, Mr. Burr, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Scott of South 
   Carolina) 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 ensure that 
hospitals receive adequate payment for the acquisition of hematopoietic 
     stem cells under the Medicare program, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Patient Access to Cellular 
Transplant Act'' or the ``PACT Act''.

SEC. 2. HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL ACQUISITION PAYMENTS.

    Section 1886 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(4), in the second sentence, by 
        inserting ``for cost reporting periods beginning on or after 
        October 1, 2020, costs related to hematopoietic stem cell 
        acquisition for the purpose of an allogeneic hematopoietic stem 
        cell transplant (as described in subsection (d)(5)(M)),'' after 
        ``October 1, 1987),'';
            (2) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) in paragraph (4)(C)(iii)--
                            (i) by inserting ``or payments under 
                        paragraph (5)(M) (beginning with fiscal year 
                        2021)'' after ``fiscal year 1991)''; and
                            (ii) by inserting ``or payments under 
                        paragraph (5)(M)'' before the period at the 
                        end; and
                    (B) in paragraph (5), by adding at the end the 
                following new subparagraph:
    ``(M)(i) For cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 
1, 2020, in the case of a subsection (d) hospital that furnishes an 
allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant to an individual during 
such a period, payment to such hospital for hematopoietic stem cell 
acquisition shall be made on a reasonable cost basis. The items 
included in such hematopoietic stem cell acquisition shall be specified 
by the Secretary through rulemaking.
    ``(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, the term `allogeneic 
hematopoietic stem cell transplant' means, with respect to an 
individual, the intravenous infusion of hematopoietic cells derived 
from bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells, or cord blood, but not 
including embryonic stem cells, of a donor to an individual that are or 
may be used to restore hematopoietic function in such individual having 
an inherited or acquired deficiency or defect.''.
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