Medicare Innovation Responsiveness Act of 2003

Bill: 108-s-823
Sponsor: Sen. Santorum, Rick [R-PA]
Introduced: 2003-04-08 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Access to health care
Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Ambulatory care
Case mix (Medical care)
Citizen participation
Clinical trials
Commerce
Communication in medicine
Department of Health and Human Services
Depositions
Discovery (Law)
Drug industry
Drug therapy
Drugs
Evidence (Law)
Executive reorganization
Federal officials
Government Operations and Politics
Government contractors
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Health care industry
Hospital care
Hospital rates
Injunctions
Law
Marketing
Medical economics
Medical fees
Medical innovations
Medical records
Medical supplies
Medical technology
Medicare
Peer review organizations (Medicine)
Physicians
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Surveys
Technological innovations
Technology assessment

Summary:
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Medicare Innovation Responsiveness Act of 2003 - Amends part D (Miscellaneous Provisions) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) prescribe criteria for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to use in making national coverage determinations; (2) direct the Secretary to establish a Council for Technology and Innovation within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to coordinate coverage, coding, and payment processes with respect to new technologies and procedures under Medicare in order to expedite patient access to new technologies and therapies; and (3) revise the Medicare coverage determination appeals process.
Directs the Secretary to establish a process that provides for the assignment of inpatient hospital codes for new medical services and related technologies as of April 1 of each year.
Requires the Secretary to establish a process for the assignment of Health Care Financing Administration Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Level II codes each calendar quarter for new medical services and technologies.
Amends SSA title XI to provide that, if the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics has not made a recommendation to the Secretary before April 1, 2003, with respect to the adoption of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) as a standard for the reporting of inpatient hospital services, the Secretary may adopt ICD-10-PCS as such a standard without receiving such a recommendation.
Revises requirements for the use of internal and external data for annual adjustments to the inpatient hospital prospective payment system (PPS) and outpatient hospital PPS.
Provides for limitation on use of foreign payer data in determining Medicare payment amounts.
Revises requirements for the recognition of the costs of new medical services and technologies under the inpatient hospital PPS.
Establishes requirements for any agreement or contract to perform the function of making local coverage determinations.
Modifies requirements for the use of carriers for administration of benefits with respect to national inherent reasonableness determinations.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4972-4973)
action_date: 2003-04-08
text: Introduced in Senate