CLARIFICATION OF PAYMENT FOR CLINICAL LABORATORY TESTS FURNISHED BY CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS.

SEC. 148. CLARIFICATION OF PAYMENT FOR CLINICAL LABORATORY TESTS FURNISHED BY CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS.(a) In General.—Section 1834(g)(4) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(g)(4)) is amended—(1) in the heading, by striking “no beneficiary cost-sharing for” and inserting “treatment of”; and(2) by adding at the end the following new sentence: “For purposes of the preceding sentence and section 1861(mm)(3), clinical diagnostic laboratory services furnished by a critical access hospital shall be treated as being furnished as part of outpatient critical access services without regard to whether the individual with respect to whom such services are furnished is physically present in the critical access hospital, or in a skilled nursing facility or a clinic (including a rural health clinic) that is operated by a critical access hospital, at the time the specimen is collected.”.(b) Effective Date.—The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply to services furnished on or after July 1, 2009.