HR 2860 · 110th Congress 2007–2009, ended

Health Care Access and Rural Equity (H-CARE) Act of 2007

Introduced Jun 26, 2007 Originated House Sponsor Earl Pomeroy D-ND

Fact sheet

Latest action · Jul 6, 2007 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

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. IntroducedJun 26, 2007
  2. Passed HouseNot reached
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Health Care Access and Rural Equity (H-CARE) Act of 2007 - 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) hold harmless provisions for small rural hospitals and sole community hospitals under the Medicare 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; (8) extension of the Medicare incentive payment program for a physician scarcity area; (9) proportional representation of rural area interests on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC); 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 the disregarding of certain 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 qualified health information technology systems; (2) direct the Secretary to establish a Rural Health Quality Advisory Commission; (3) provide for Delta Region rural disparities and health systems development, as well as small rural health care provider quality improvement grants; and (4) provide for expanded application of the 340B program of limited drug prices to drugs provided in rural hospitals, including hospital provision to states of Medicaid credits on certain inpatient drugs.

Directs the Secretary to encourage and facilitate the adoption of telehealth provisions allowing for multistate practitioner access across state lines.

Cosponsors 76

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 26, 2007 to Dec 10, 2008, with 52 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-FLAllen BoydOriginalJun 26, 2007
D-ALArtur DavisOriginalJun 26, 2007
D-MIBart StupakOriginalJun 26, 2007
D-NCBob EtheridgeOriginalJun 26, 2007
D-IABruce L. BraleyOriginalJun 26, 2007
R-WACathy McMorris RodgersOriginalJun 26, 2007
D-OHCharles A. WilsonOriginalJun 26, 2007
R-MSCharles W. "Chip" PickeringOriginalJun 26, 2007
D-LACharlie MelanconOriginalJun 26, 2007
D-TXChet EdwardsOriginalJun 26, 2007
D-PAChristopher P. CarneyOriginalJun 26, 2007
R-MIDave CampOriginalJun 26, 2007
R-MTDenny RehbergOriginalJun 26, 2007
R-WADoc HastingsOriginalJun 26, 2007
R-AKDon YoungOriginalJun 26, 2007
Show all 76 cosponsors

Actions 4

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Jul 6, 2007Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
  2. Jun 26, 2007Introduced in House
  3. Jun 26, 2007Referred 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.
  4. Jun 26, 2007Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Subjects

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

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Jun 26, 2007Introduced in House

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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.