Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Rural ACO Improvement Act of 2015”.
Rural ACO Improvement Act of 2015
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the way beneficiaries are assigned under the Medicare shared savings program by also basing such assignment on primary care services furnished by Federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and clinical nurse specialists.
Sec. 2 Improvements to the assignment of beneficiaries under the Medicare shared savings program
Section 1899(c) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395jjj(c)) is amended—
by striking “utilization of primary” and inserting “utilization of—
“(1) in the case of performance years beginning on or after April 1, 2012, primary”
in paragraph (1), as added by paragraph (1) of this section, by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
“(2) in the case of performance years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, primary care services provided under this title by an ACO professional described in subsection (h)(1)(B); and
“(3) in the case of performance years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, primary care services provided under this title by a Federally qualified health center or rural health clinic (as those terms are defined in section 1861(aa)), as determined by the Secretary.”