United States. Congress

“ Such study shall include an analysis of the following: (A) Methods to revise the home health prospective payment system under section 1895 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395fff) to more accurately account for the costs related to patient severity of illness or to improving beneficiary access to care, including-- (i) payment adjustments for services that may be under- or over-valued; (ii) necessary changes to reflect the resource use relative to providing home health services to low-income Medicare beneficiaries or Medicare beneficiaries living in medically underserved areas ”

“ The additional data and information to be collected under subparagraph (A) may include data and information on-- ` (i) charges and payments; ` (ii) the number of days of hospice care which are attributable to individuals who are entitled to, or enrolled for, benefits under part A; and ` (iii) with respect to each type of service included in hospice care-- ` (I) the number of days of hospice care attributable to the type of service; ` (II) the cost of the type of service; and ` (III) the amount of payment for the type of service ”

“ CHANGE IN PRESUMED UTILIZATION LEVEL OF CERTAIN ADVANCED DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING SERVICES FOR 2010 THROUGH 2012- Effective for fee schedules established beginning with 2010 and ending with 2012, reduced expenditures attributable to the presumed rate of utilization of imaging equipment of 65 percent under subsection (b) (4) (C) (i) instead of a presumed rate of utilization of such equipment of 50 percent. ”

“ LIMITATIONS ON REVIEW- There shall be no administrative or judicial review under section 1869, section 1878, or otherwise of the following: ` (A) Any estimate of the Secretary for purposes of determining the factors described in paragraph (2) . ”

“ Such hospice programs shall be located in urban and rural areas. (b) Independent Evaluation and Reports- (1) INDEPENDENT EVALUATION- The Secretary shall provide for the conduct of an independent evaluation of the demonstration program under this section. Such independent evaluation shall determine whether the demonstration program has improved patient care, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness for Medicare beneficiaries participating in the demonstration program. ”