PAYMENTS FOR NEW PHYSICIANS AND PRACTITIONERS.

SEC. 13615. PAYMENTS FOR NEW PHYSICIANS AND PRACTITIONERS. (a) Equal Treatment of New Physicians and Practitioners.— (1) Section 1848(a) (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (4). (2) Section 1842(b)(4) (42 U.S.C. 1395u(b)(4)) is amended by striking subparagraph (F). (b) Budget Neutrality Adjustment.— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall reduce the following values and amounts for 1994 (to be applied for that year and subsequent years) by such uniform percentage as the Secretary determines to be required to assure that the amendments made by subsection (a) will not result in expenditures under part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act in 1994 that exceed the amount of such expenditures that would have been made if such amendments had not been made: (1) The relative values established under section 1848(c) of such Act for services (other than anesthesia services) and, in the case of anesthesia services, the conversion factor established under section 1848 of such Act for such services. (2) The amounts determined under section 1848(a)(2)(B)(ii)(I) of such Act. (3) The prevailing charges or fee schedule amounts to be applied under such part for services of a health care practitioner (as defined in section 1842(b)(4)(F)(ii)(I) of such Act, as in effect before the date of the enactment of this Act). (c) Conforming Amendments.— Section 1848 (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4), as amended by section 13514(c), is amended— (1) in subsection (a)(2)(B)(ii)(I), by inserting “and under section 13515(b) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993” after “subsection (c)(2)(F)(ii)”; (2) in subsection (c)(2)(A)(i), by inserting “and section 13515(b) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993” after “under subparagraph (F)(i)”; and (3) in subsection (i)(1)(B), by inserting “and section 13515(b) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993” after “under subsection (c)(2)(F)”. (d) Effective Date.— The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply to services furnished on or after January 1, 1994.