"This Congress, with health care reform at the front and center, Senators Barrasso, Conrad, Harkin and I will do our very best to lead in Craig’s absence and to ensure that rural health does not get left behind." Roberts said. "The people of Wyoming and all of Craig’s colleagues knew that he fought for rural America and always put the needs of his state above all else. On the health care front, Craig was truly a champion for strengthening our rural health delivery system and providing relief to our hospitals and other providers in rural areas."

"The Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act recognizes that rural health care providers have very different needs than their urban counterparts and that health care is not one size fits all,"Roberts said.

The bill makes changes to Medicare regulations for rural hospitals and providers, recognizing the difficulty in achieving the same economies of scale as large urban facilities. It equalizes Medicare’s disproportionate share hospital payments to bring rural hospitals in line with urban facilities and provides additional assistance for small, rural hospitals who have a low-volume of patients. Often, these hospitals have trouble making ends meet under the Medicare payment system.

The legislation provides a Capital Infrastructure Loan Program to make loans available to help rural facilities improve crumbling buildings and infrastructure. In addition, rural providers can apply to receive planning grants to help assess capital and infrastructure needs.

The bill extends to January 1, 2011, two incentive programs aimed at improving the quality of care by attracting health care providers to Health Professional Shortage Areas. The first is the Medicare Incentive Payment Program, which provides 10 percent bonus payments to physicians practicing in shortage areas. The second is the Physician Fee Schedule Work Geographic Adjustment, which brings rural doctors’ Medicare fee schedules for wages more in line with urban doctors’.

Recognizing that other providers play a great role in the rural health delivery system the bill increases the payment cap for Rural Health Clinics to keep them in line with Community Health Centers, provides a 5 percent add-on payment for rural home health services and provides a five percent add-on payment for ground ambulance services in rural areas.

"One of the provisions in our bill that Senator Thomas particularly championed is a provision to allow marriage and family therapists and licensed professional counselors to bill Medicare for their services and be paid the rate of social workers," Roberts said.

Currently, the Medicare program only permits psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and clinical nurse specialists to bill Medicare for mental health services provided to seniors. However, most rural counties do not have a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Marriage and family therapists and licensed professional counselors are much more likely to practice in a rural setting and are often the only mental health professionals available.

Finally, this bill uses technology to improve home health services and quality for care by creating a pilot program providing incentives for home health agencies to purchase and utilize home monitoring and communications technologies and to facilitate telehealth services across state lines.

"I am proud and honored to introduce this bill on behalf of Craig Thomas," Roberts said. "We all miss him greatly as a personal friend, confidant and colleague. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Susan, his sons Peter, Patrick and Greg, and his daughter Lexie."

Senator Roberts is honored to follow Senator Thomas as Co-Chairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus. Roberts is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and is a member of the Senate Committee on Finance which has jurisdiction on Medicare.

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