[Congressional Bills 118th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4395 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4395 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a floor on the work geographic index for physicians' services furnished in Hawaii. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 23, 2024 Mr. Schatz (for himself and Ms. Hirono) 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 establish a floor on the work geographic index for physicians' services furnished in 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 ``Protecting Access To Care in Hawaii Act'' or the ``PATCH Act''. SEC. 2. FLOOR ON WORK GEOGRAPHIC INDEX FOR PHYSICIANS' SERVICES FURNISHED IN HAWAII. Section 1848(e) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-4(e)) is amended-- (1) in paragraph (1)(A), in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking ``and (I)'' and inserting ``(I), and (J)''; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: ``(J) Floor on work geographic index for services furnished in hawaii.--For purposes of payment for services furnished in Hawaii on or after January 1, 2025, after calculating the work geographic index in subparagraph (A)(iii), the Secretary shall increase the work geographic index to 1.5 if such index would otherwise be less than 1.5. The preceding sentence shall not be applied in a budget neutral manner.''. <all>