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To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a floor on the work geographic index for physicians' services furnished in Hawaii.
Summary
This bill establishes a minimum threshold on the work geographic index used to calculate Medicare payment rates for physicians' services in Hawaii. Under the bill, for services furnished in Hawaii on or after January 1, 2026, if the calculated work geographic index would be less than 1.5, it will be increased to 1.5. The work geographic index is used to adjust physician payment rates based on geographic location and cost of living; this floor ensures Hawaii physicians will be paid at least at the 1.5 level relative to the national average. The adjustment is not made in a budget-neutral manner, meaning it will increase total Medicare spending rather than offset costs elsewhere.
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)
- Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI] (D-HI)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI] (D-HI)
Actions (2)
- May 6, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
- May 6, 2025 Introduced in Senate
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.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 6, 2025
Mr. Schatz (for himself and Ms. Hirono) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a floor on the work geographic index for physicians’ services furnished in 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 “Protecting Access To Care in Hawaii Act” or the “PATCH Act”.
SEC. 2. FLOOR ON WORK GEOGRAPHIC INDEX FOR PHYSICIANS’ SERVICES FURNISHED IN HAWAII.
Section 1848(e) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-4(e)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1)(A), in the matter preceding clause
(i), by striking “and (I)” and inserting “(I), and (J)”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(J) Floor on work geographic index for services furnished in hawaii.—For purposes of payment for services furnished in Hawaii on or after January 1, 2026, after calculating the work geographic index in subparagraph (A)(iii), the Secretary shall increase the work geographic index to 1.5 if such index would otherwise be less than 1.5. The preceding sentence shall not be applied in a budget neutral manner.”. <all>
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