Congress 108 - HR 1675 - Health Care Access and Rural Equity Act of 2003

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Access to health care Ambulances Ambulatory care Authorization Building construction Capital investments Case mix (Medical care) Clinics Community health services Department of Health and Human Services Economics and Public Finance Emergency Management Emergency medicine Federal aid to health facilities Federally-guaranteed loans Finance and Financial Sector Government lending Government Operations and Politics Government trust funds Health Hospital care Hospital rates Hospitals Housing and Community Development Interest rates Labor and Employment Land transfers Maintenance and repair Medical fees Medical laboratories Medical tests Medicare Nurse practitioners Nurses Physicians Physicians' assistants Revolving funds Rural health Social Welfare Subsidies Transportation and Public Works Wages

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Summary

Health Care Access and Rural Equity Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to make a variety of changes with regard to rural health care and such matters as: (1) urban and rural standardized payment amounts under the Medicare inpatient hospital prospective payment system (PPS); (2) disproportionate share hospital (DSH) adjustment for rural hospitals; (3) adjustment to the Medicare inpatient hospital PPS wage index to revise the labor-related share of such index; (4) treatment of certain sole community hospitals to limit the decline in payment under the PPS for hospital outpatient department services; (5) the critical access hospital program; and (6) permanent treatment of certain physician pathology services under Medicare.

Amends the Public Health Service Act to give the Secretary the authority to make and guarantee loans from the loan fund to any rural entity for projects for capital improvements.

Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for a five-year extension of the authorization for appropriations for certain Medicare rural grants.

Actions

Apr 24, 2003

Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Chairman.
Apr 22, 2003

Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Apr 8, 2003

Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 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.
Apr 8, 2003

Introduced in House

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