SEPARATE PAYMENT FOR INTERPRETATION OF ELECTROCARDIOGRAMS.

SEC. 13514. SEPARATE PAYMENT FOR INTERPRETATION OF ELECTROCARDIOGRAMS. (a) In General.— Paragraph (3) of section 1848(b) (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4(b)) is amended to read as follows: “(3) Treatment of interpretation of electrocardiograms.— The Secretary— “(A) shall make separate payment under this section for the interpretation of electrocardiograms performed or ordered to be performed as part of or in conjunction with a visit to or a consultation with a physician, and “(B) shall adjust the relative values established for visits and consultations under subsection (c) so as not to include relative value units for interpretations of electrocardiograms in the relative value for visits and consultations.”. (b) Assuring Budget Neutrality.— Section 1848(c)(2) (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4(c)(2)), as amended by section 13513, is further amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: “(F) Budget neutrality adjustments.— The Secretary— “(i) shall reduce the relative values for all services (other than anesthesia services) established under this paragraph (and, in the case of anesthesia services, the conversion factor established by the Secretary for such services) by such percentage as the Secretary determines to be necessary so that, beginning in 1996, the amendment made by section 13514(a) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 would not result in expenditures under this section that exceed the amount of such expenditures that would have been made if such amendment had not been made, and “(ii) shall reduce the amounts determined under subsection (a)(2)(B)(ii)(I) by such percentage as the Secretary determines to be required to assure that, taking into account the reductions made under clause (i), the amendment made by section 13514(a) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 would not result in expenditures under this section in 1994 that exceed the amount of such expenditures that would have been made if such amendment had not been made.”. (c) Conforming Amendments.— Section 1848 (42 U.S.C. 1395w—4) is amended— 107 STAT. 583 (1) in subsection (a)(2)(B)(ii)(I), by inserting “and as adjusted under subsection (c)(2)(F)(ii)” after “for 1994”; (2) in subsection (c)(2)(A)(i), by adding at the end the following: “Such relative values are subject to adjustment under subparagraph (F)(i).”; and (3) in subsection (i)(1)(B), by adding at the end “including adjustments under subsection (c)(2)(F),”. (d) Effective Date.— The amendments made by this section shall apply to services furnished on or after January 1, 1994.