S 987 · 108th Congress 2003–2005, ended

Rural Health Care Fairness and Medicare Equity Act of 2003

Introduced May 5, 2003 Originated Senate Sponsor Byron L. Dorgan D-ND

Fact sheet

Latest action · May 5, 2003 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedMay 5, 2003
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Rural Health Care Fairness and Medicare Equity Act of 2003 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for discharges occurring in a fiscal year beginning with FY 2004, to compute a standardized amount for hospitals in rural and small urban areas that is equal to the standardized amount computed for the previous fiscal year for hospitals located in a large urban area increased by the applicable percentage increase for the fiscal year involved.

Sets the wage index at 62 percent for discharges occurring in FY 2004, except that hospitals receiving lower payments as a result of such new wage index would be held harmless.

Creates a wage index floor for use in determining payments for discharges occurring in FY 2004 for hospitals with a wage index under 0.85.

Directs the Secretary to publish and use alternative guidelines for geographic reclassification of certain hospitals located in sparsely populated States.

Establishes a floor of 1.00 for the work geographic cost-of-practice index under the physician payment system.

Cosponsors 2

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 5, 2003 to Jun 3, 2003, with 1 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
R-MTConrad R. BurnsOriginalMay 5, 2003
D-LAMary L. LandrieuJun 3, 2003

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. May 5, 2003Introduced in Senate
  2. May 5, 2003Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
  3. May 5, 2003Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5731-5733)

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.