Health Care Access and Rural Equity (H-CARE) Act of 2006

Bill: 109-hr-6030
Sponsor: Rep. Walden, Greg [R-OR-2]
Introduced: 2006-09-06 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Access to health care
Agricultural labor
Agriculture and Food
Ambulances
Ambulatory care
Arkansas
Building construction
Capital investments
Case management
Case mix (Medical care)
Chronically ill
Clinics
Coinsurance
Communication in medicine
Community health services
Congressional reporting requirements
Continuum of care
Cost effectiveness
Debt
Drugs
Economics and Public Finance
Electronic data interchange
Emergency Management
Emergency medicine
Families
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to health facilities
Federally-guaranteed loans
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Government lending
Governmental investigations
Health information systems
Health insurance
Health maintenance organizations
Health planning
Home care services
Hospital care
Hospital rates
Hospitals
Housing and Community Development
Illinois
Indian medical care
Information technology
Kentucky
Labor and Employment
Land transfers
Louisiana
Managed care
Marriage counseling
Medical economics
Medical fees
Medical laboratories
Medical records
Medical tests
Medicare
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
Mental health services
Migrant labor
Minorities
Mississippi
Missouri
Native Americans
Nursing homes
Performance measurement
Physicians
Prescription pricing
Psychologists
Psychotherapy
Quality of care
Revolving funds
Rural health
Science, Technology, Communications
Seasonal labor
Social Welfare
State laws
Telemedicine
Tennessee
Terminal care
Transportation and Public Works
Wages
Welfare recipients

Summary:
action_date: 2006-09-06
text: 
Health Care Access and Rural Equity (H-CARE) Act of 2006 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to: (1) the Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustment for rural hospitals; (2); payment for clinical laboratory tests furnished by critical access hospitals; (3) rebasing for sole community hospitals; (4) establishment of a rural community hospital program; (5) extension of the Medicare rural hospital hold harmless provision under the prospective payment system (PPS) for hospital outpatient department services; (6) coverage of marriage and family therapist services and mental health counselor services under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance); (7) permanent treatment of certain physician pathology services under Medicare; (8) extension of the Medicare incentive payment program for a physician scarcity area; (9) proportional representation of interests of rural areas on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; and (10) additional payments for providers furnishing ambulance services in rural areas and prompt payment of clean claims by Medicare prescription drug plans and MedicareAdvantage-Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plans under the Medicare part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program).
 
Amends the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend: (1) certain Medicare hospital wage index reclassifications and disregarding hospital reclassifications for purposes of group reclassifications; (2) Medicare reasonable costs payments for certain clinical diagnostic laboratory tests furnished to hospital patients in certain rural areas; and (3) the temporary Medicare payment increase for home health services furnished in a rural area.
 
Amends the Public Health Service Act to: (1) authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award competitive grants to eligible entities in rural areas for purchase and enhanced utilization of qualified health information technology systems; (2) establish a capital infrastructure revolving loan program and a Rural Health Quality Advisory Commission; and (3) provide for delta rural disparities and health systems development.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-09-25
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2006-09-06
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-06
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-06
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-06
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2006-09-06
text: Introduced in House