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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 Medicare payment rules to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to apply cost-of-living adjustments to the non-labor related portion of payments for hospital outpatient services in Alaska and Hawaii. The adjustments would take effect on January 1, 2026, and account for the unique circumstances and higher costs of hospitals in these states. The bill uses the same adjustment methodology already applied to inpatient hospital payments. Unlike other payment adjustments, this provision would not be applied in a budget-neutral manner, meaning it could increase total Medicare payments without requiring offsetting reductions 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. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] (R-AK)
2 cosponsors
- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK)
- Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI] (D-HI)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Dan Sullivan’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 Dan Sullivan → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 12, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
- Feb 12, 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
February 12, 2025
Mr. Sullivan (for himself, Mr. Schatz, and Ms. Murkowski) 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 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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