TITLE VI--PROVISIONS RELATING TO PART B
Subtitle A--Provisions Relating to Physicians' Services
SEC. 605. COLLABORATIVE DEMONSTRATION-BASED REVIEW OF PHYSICIAN
PRACTICE EXPENSE GEOGRAPHIC ADJUSTMENT DATA.
(a) IN GENERAL- Not later than January 1, 2005,
the Secretary shall, in collaboration with State and other appropriate organizations
representing physicians, and other appropriate persons, review and consider
alternative data sources than those currently used in establishing the geographic
index for the practice expense component under the medicare physician fee schedule
under section 1848(e)(1)(A)(i) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-4(e)(1)(A)(i)).
(b) SITES- The Secretary shall select two physician
payment localities in which to carry out subsection (a). One locality shall
include rural areas and at least one locality shall be a statewide locality
that includes both urban and rural areas.
(c) REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS-
(1) REPORT- Not later than January
1, 2006, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the review and
consideration conducted under subsection (a). Such report shall include information
on the alternative developed data sources considered by the Secretary under
subsection (a), including the accuracy and validity of the data as measures
of the elements of the geographic index for practice expenses under the medicare
physician fee schedule as well as the feasibility of using such alternative
data nationwide in lieu of current proxy data used in such index, and the
estimated impacts of using such alternative data.
(2) RECOMMENDATIONS- The report submitted
under paragraph (1) shall contain recommendations on which data sources reviewed
and considered under subsection (a) are appropriate for use in calculating
the geographic index for practice expenses under the medicare physician fee
schedule.
