[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5154 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5154

  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify payment 
   rules for manual wheelchairs under part B of the Medicare program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 24, 2024

Mrs. Blackburn (for herself and Ms. Duckworth) 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 clarify payment 
   rules for manual wheelchairs under part B of the Medicare program.

    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 ``Choices for Increased Mobility Act 
of 2024''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING SEPARATE HCPCS CODES FOR CERTAIN MANUAL 
              WHEELCHAIRS UNDER THE MEDICARE PROGRAM.

    Section 1834(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(23) Requirement to establish separate hcpcs codes for 
        certain manual wheelchairs.--
                    ``(A) In general.--With respect to ultralightweight 
                manual wheelchairs payable under this subsection 
                furnished on or after January 1, 2025, the Secretary 
                shall establish two or more HCPCS codes, as determined 
                appropriate by the Secretary, for the base of such a 
                wheelchair depending on the construction material used 
                in such base (with one such code that is used to 
                identify such a base with titanium or carbon fiber 
                materials and one code for such a base without such 
                materials).
                    ``(B) Upgrades applicable to certain manual 
                wheelchairs.--Notwithstanding paragraph (19), on or 
                after January 1, 2025, an individual may purchase or 
                rent from a supplier an upgraded titanium or carbon 
                fiber manual wheelchair.
                    ``(C) Payment and beneficiary protections.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Notwithstanding 
                        paragraph (19), in the case where an individual 
                        purchases or rents from a supplier an upgraded 
                        titanium or carbon fiber manual wheelchair on 
                        or after January 1, 2025, the supplier may 
                        charge the individual the difference between 
                        the Medicare fee schedule amount for the non-
                        upgraded manual wheelchair and the fair market 
                        value for the upgraded manual wheelchair.
                            ``(ii) Beneficiary protections.--In order 
                        to inform an individual of their potential 
                        financial liability under clause (i), the 
                        Secretary may require a supplier to issue an 
                        advance beneficiary notice under section 1879 
                        to the individual prior to the purchase or rent 
                        of an upgraded titanium or carbon fiber manual 
                        wheelchair by the individual.''.
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