1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 2013”.
Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 2013
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for coverage of qualified acupuncturist services under part B of the Medicare Program, and to amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for coverage of such services under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
2. Coverage of acupuncturist services under Medicare
by striking “and” at the end of subparagraph (EE);
by inserting “and” at the end of subparagraph (FF); and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(GG) qualified acupuncturist services (as defined in subsection (iii));”
Services described— Section 1861 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
“(iii) Qualified acupuncturist services
“(1) The term qualified acupuncturist services means such services furnished by a qualified acupuncturist (as defined in paragraph (2)) and such services and supplies furnished as an incident to services furnished by the qualified acupuncturist which the qualified acupuncturist is legally authorized to perform under State law (or the State regulatory mechanism provided by State law).
“(2) The term qualified acupuncturist means an individual who has been certified, licensed, or registered as an acupuncturist by a State (or the State regulatory mechanism provided by State law).”
Payment rules—
Determination of amount of payment— Section 1833(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)) is amended—
by striking “and” before “(Z)”; and
by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: “, and (AA) with respect to qualified acupuncturist services described in section 1861(s)(2)(GG)), the amounts paid shall be the amount determined by a fee schedule established by the Secretary for purposes of this clause (but in no event shall such amount exceed the fee schedule amount provided under section 1848 for the same service performed by a physician);”.
Separate payment for services of institutional providers— Section 1833(a)(2)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(a)(2)(B)) is amended, in clauses (i) and (ii), by inserting “and in the case of qualified acupuncturist services furnished at any time” after “1999,” each place it appears.
Effective date— The amendments made by this section apply to services furnished on or after January 1, 2014.
3. Coverage of acupuncturist services under Federal employees health benefit plans
In general— Section 8902(k)(1) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting “acupuncturist,” after “nurse midwife,” each place it appears.
Effective date— The amendment made by this section applies to services provided on or after January 1, 2014.