Incentive payments for physician scarcity areas

In the case of physicians’ services furnished on or after January 1, 2005 , and before July 1, 2008 —

(A) by a primary care physician in a primary care scarcity county (identified under paragraph (4)); or

(B) by a physician who is not a primary care physician in a specialist care scarcity county (as so identified),

in addition to the amount of payment that would otherwise be made for such services under this part, there also shall be paid an amount equal to 5 percent of the payment amount for the service under this part.

Based upon available data, the Secretary shall establish for each county or equivalent area in the United States, the following:

(A) Number of physicians practicing in the area The number of physicians who furnish physicians’ services in the active practice of medicine or osteopathy in that county or area, other than physicians whose practice is exclusively for the Federal Government, physicians who are retired, or physicians who only provide administrative services. Of such number, the number of such physicians who are— (i) primary care physicians; or (ii) physicians who are not primary care physicians.

(B) Number of medicare beneficiaries residing in the area The number of individuals who are residing in the county and are entitled to benefits under part A or enrolled under this part, or both (in this subsection referred to as “individuals”).

(C) Determination of ratios (i) Primary care ratio The ratio (in this paragraph referred to as the “primary care ratio”) of the number of primary care physicians (determined under subparagraph (A)(i)), to the number of individuals determined under subparagraph (B). (ii) Specialist care ratio The ratio (in this paragraph referred to as the “specialist care ratio”) of the number of other physicians (determined under subparagraph (A)(ii)), to the number of individuals determined under subparagraph (B).

The Secretary shall rank each such county or area based separately on its primary care ratio and its specialist care ratio.

(A) In general The Secretary shall identify— (i) those counties and areas (in this paragraph referred to as “primary care scarcity counties”) with the lowest primary care ratios that represent, if each such county or area were weighted by the number of individuals determined under paragraph (2)(B), an aggregate total of 20 percent of the total of the individuals determined under such paragraph; and (ii) those counties and areas (in this subsection referred to as “specialist care scarcity counties”) with the lowest specialist care ratios that represent, if each such county or area were weighted by the number of individuals determined under paragraph (2)(B), an aggregate total of 20 percent of the total of the individuals determined under such paragraph.

(B) Periodic revisions The Secretary shall periodically revise the counties or areas identified in subparagraph (A) (but not less often than once every three years) unless the Secretary determines that there is no new data available on the number of physicians practicing in the county or area or the number of individuals residing in the county or area, as identified in paragraph (2).

(C) Identification of counties where service is furnished For purposes of paying the additional amount specified in paragraph (1), if the Secretary uses the 5-digit postal ZIP Code where the service is furnished, the dominant county of the postal ZIP Code (as determined by the United States Postal Service, or otherwise) shall be used to determine whether the postal ZIP Code is in a scarcity county identified in subparagraph (A) or revised in subparagraph (B).

(D) Special rule With respect to physicians’ services furnished on or after January 1, 2008 , and before July 1, 2008 , for purposes of this subsection, the Secretary shall use the primary care scarcity counties and the specialty care scarcity counties (as identified under the preceding provisions of this paragraph) that the Secretary was using under this subsection with respect to physicians’ services furnished on December 31, 2007 .

(E) Judicial review There shall be no administrative or judicial review under section 1395ff, 1395 oo of this title, or otherwise, respecting— (i) the identification of a county or area; (ii) the assignment of a specialty of any physician under this paragraph; (iii) the assignment of a physician to a county under paragraph (2); or (iv) the assignment of a postal ZIP Code to a county or other area under this subsection.

To the extent feasible, the Secretary shall treat a rural census tract of a metropolitan statistical area (as determined under the most recent modification of the Goldsmith Modification, originally published in the Federal Register on February 27, 1992 (57 Fed. Reg. 6725)), as an equivalent area for purposes of qualifying as a primary care scarcity county or specialist care scarcity county under this subsection.

For purposes of this paragraph, the term “physician” means a physician described in section 1395x(r)(1) of this title and the term “primary care physician” means a physician who is identified in the available data as a general practitioner, family practice practitioner, general internist, or obstetrician or gynecologist.

With respect to a year for which a county or area is identified or revised under paragraph (4), the Secretary shall identify such counties or areas as part of the proposed and final rule to implement the physician fee schedule under section 1395w–4 of this title for the applicable year. The Secretary shall post the list of counties identified or revised under paragraph (4) on the Internet website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.