Emergency Care Improvement Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 3134 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3134 To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for coverage of certain services furnished by freestanding emergency centers. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 1, 2025 Mr. Arrington (for himself, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. Crenshaw, and Ms. Van Duyne) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for coverage of certain services furnished by freestanding emergency centers. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Care Improvement Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) To expand provider capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, in April of 2020 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a waiver allowing freestanding emergency centers (FECs) to enroll as Medicare-certified hospitals and receive Medicare reimbursement for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency. (2) FECs are fully licensed emergency departments that are staffed by both Emergency Medicine trained physicians and registered nurses who are on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and possess licensed pharmacies, clinical laboratories, and advanced imaging services. FECs are State-licensed, and adhere to the same standards and provide the same level of care as