# What This Bill Does

This bill is about making sure Medicare can better track and monitor medical clinics that hospitals operate away from their main campuses. Right now, when a hospital runs an outpatient clinic in a separate location—like a doctor's office or urgent care center in a different part of town—it can sometimes bill Medicare under the hospital's main identification number. This bill would require those off-campus clinics to have their own unique identifier and to prove they're following proper regulations.

Starting in 2026, any off-campus outpatient department would need to get its own separate ID number for billing purposes, similar to how individual hospitals have their own identification numbers. The hospital would also have to submit a formal statement to Medicare confirming that each off-campus location is following federal regulations about how it operates and bills for services. Medicare would then verify this information through either in-person visits or remote audits to make sure everything checks out. If a hospital doesn't comply with these requirements, Medicare won't pay for services provided at that off-campus location.

The practical effect is increased transparency and accountability. Medicare will have a clearer picture of where services are actually being provided and can better track whether off-campus clinics are operating appropriately. This could help prevent billing fraud or inappropriate billing practices, and it gives Medicare better oversight of the healthcare system. For patients, this shouldn't directly change their experience at these clinics, but it does mean there's more government oversight to ensure these facilities are legitimate and properly regulated.

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require each off-campus outpatient department of a provider to include a unique identifier on claims for items and services, and to require providers with a department of a provider to submit to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services an attestation with respect to each such department.

 <p>This bill requires off-campus outpatient departments of health care providers to bill for services under Medicare using a unique identification number that is separate from that of the provider.</p>