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Ensuring Outpatient Quality for Rural States Act
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the application of a cost-of-living adjustment to the non-labor related portion for hospital outpatient department services furnished in Alaska and Hawaii.
Summary
This bill amends the Medicare program to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to adjust payment amounts for hospital outpatient department services furnished in Alaska and Hawaii, effective January 1, 2026. The adjustments would be applied to the non-labor related portion of the payment amounts in the same manner as cost-of-living adjustments applied to other hospital payments, to account for the unique circumstances of hospitals in Alaska and Hawaii. The bill specifies that these adjustments would not be applied in a budget-neutral manner, meaning they would increase overall Medicare spending without offsetting reductions elsewhere. This allows for higher Medicare reimbursement rates for outpatient services in these states to reflect their higher operating costs.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
2 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Jill N. Tokuda’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Jill N. Tokuda → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jun 30, 2025 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. · house
- Jun 30, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 30, 2025
Ms. Tokuda (for herself and Mr. Begich) introduced the following bill; which was 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
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the application of a cost-of-living adjustment to the non-labor related portion for hospital outpatient department services furnished in Alaska and Hawaii.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Ensuring Outpatient Quality for Rural States Act”.
SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT TO NON-LABOR RELATED PORTION FOR HOSPITAL OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT SERVICES FURNISHED IN ALASKA AND HAWAII.
Section 1833(t) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(t)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(23) Application of cost-of-living adjustment to non- labor related portion for hospital outpatient department services furnished in alaska and hawaii.—With respect to covered OPD services furnished on or after January 1, 2026, the Secretary may provide for adjustments to the payment amounts under this subsection for such services in the same manner that is provided under section 1886(d)(5)(H) with respect to the application of the cost-of-living adjustment to the non-labor related portion of such payment amounts to take into account the unique circumstances of hospitals located in Alaska or Hawaii. The preceding sentence shall not be applied in a budget neutral manner.”. <all>
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