SET ASIDE FOR EXPERIMENTS AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS RELATING TO RURAL HEALTH CARE ISSUES.

SEC. 4403. SET ASIDE FOR EXPERIMENTS AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS RELATING TO RURAL HEALTH CARE ISSUES. (a) Set Aside.— Not less than ten percent of the total amounts expended in each fiscal year by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”) after October 1, 1988, with respect to experiments and demonstration projects authorized by section 402 of the Social Security Amendments of 1967 and the experiments and demonstration projects authorized by the Social Security Amendments of 1972 shall be expended for experiments and demonstration projects relating exclusively or substantially to rural health issues, including (but not limited to) the impact of the payment methodology under section 1886(d) of the Social Security Act on the financial viability of small rural hospitals, the effect of medicare payment policies on the101 STAT. 1330–227 ability of rural areas (and rural hospitals in particular) to attract and retain physicians and other health professionals, the appropriateness of medicare conditions of participation and staffing requirements for small rural hospitals, and the impact of medicare policies on access to (and the quality of) health care in rural areas, (b) Agenda.— The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish an agenda of experiments and demonstration projects, relating exclusively or substantially to rural health issues, that are in progress or have been proposed, and shall include such agenda in the annual report submitted pursuant to section 1875(b) of the Social Security Act. The agenda shall be accompanied by a statement setting forth the amounts that have been obligated and expended with respect to such experiments and projects in the current and most recently completed fiscal years.