Larry Bucshon

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim my time.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko).

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The bipartisan bill before us today improves access to quality healthcare providers for vulnerable Medicaid patients. Today, State Medicaid programs too often suffer from waste, fraud, and abuse, which can harm beneficiaries and waste taxpayer dollars. At the same time, too many Medicaid patients may have a hard time finding a doctor. Our bill takes an important step forward in addressing both of these issues. First, H.R. 3716 would ensure healthcare providers that are terminated from Medicaid or from one State's Medicaid program for reasons of fraud, integrity, or quality are also terminated from other State Medicaid programs. The Office of Inspector General at HHS has previously found that 12 percent of terminated providers were participating in a State Medicaid program after the same provider was terminated from another State Medicaid program. It is critical that fraudulent providers are not allowed to defraud taxpayers or to harm patients across the board. Medicaid beneficiaries are some of the most vulnerable patients, so our bipartisan bill will ensure that they are better protected. This commonsense bill was reported favorably from our Health Subcommittee and from the full Energy and Commerce Committee last year. The other important aspect of this legislation was authored by Chris Collins of New York. This provision of the bill requires State Medicaid programs to provide beneficiaries who are served under fee-for-service or primary care case management programs an electronic directory of physicians who are participating in the program. Research shows that too often Medicaid patients today have a hard time finding a doctor. The Government Accountability Office has previously found that Medicaid patients face particular challenges in accessing certain types of care, such as obtaining specialty care or dental care. Additionally, the GAO has previously reported that 38 States experienced challenges in ensuring enough participating providers. To help empower Medicaid patients and equip them with better information, this policy would apply requirements similar to those in place for Medicaid managed care plans to fee-for-service and/or primary care case management programs. Under the bill, States would be required to list on their Web sites a directory of physicians that would include the physician's name, specialty, address, and telephone number. Additionally, for physicians serving as case managers through the PCCM programs, States would be required to include information on whether a physician is accepting new patients as well as to list the physician's cultural and linguistic capabilities. In a day and age when Medicaid patients can use their phones to search for the nearest gas station or grocery store, it makes good sense to ensure that States are giving patients better information so that they can readily find a doctor near them who accepts Medicaid patients. Finally, according to the Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 3716 would reduce Federal outlays by $15 million over a 10-year budget window because the Medicaid program would no longer be paying providers that were terminated for reasons of fraud, integrity, or quality. The CBO does not estimate State-specific savings, but this bill would also save State Medicaid programs several million dollars over the same timeframe. Mr. Chairman, this legislation provides commonsense reforms that help protect Medicaid beneficiaries, that improve access to care, and that save Federal and State dollars in the Medicaid program. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3716. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This is the type of legislation that we should be passing on the House floor, and I will urge the Senate to pass this legislation later. This is just good government. It corrects some obvious flaws in the Medicaid program that will protect patients and save taxpayers money. I am very pleased that we are able to address this today. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman for his comments. It is true that when you find common ground and work together, good things happen, and this is one of those instances. I think there are a lot of areas in health care. I was a healthcare provider before I was a heart surgeon. I took care of Medicaid and Medicare patients, private insurance patients, and patients that did not have the ability to pay. I think that we need to continue to look for ways to improve our safety net healthcare programs, mainly continue to look for ways to make sure that people have access to health care in the United States regardless of their ability to pay, regardless of their ZIP Code. That said, we need to make sure that people have access to quality health care, and that is why bills like this are so important. It weeds out providers that are fraudulent and have other quality-related problems. As a physician--and I will speak for some of my physician friends-- this is the type of thing that we all want in our specialties. We want to make sure that the patients that we serve have access to physicians who are providing quality health care and are not defrauding the system. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Collins).

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance).

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chair, I would just like to echo the words of Mr. Tonko. This is good legislation. It improves the Medicaid program. It ensures access to quality providers for our Medicaid recipients in all of our States. Also, it helps our States to determine when people have been kicked off the program as a provider in another State and, therefore, helps them protect the patients in their own States. I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This bipartisan amendment makes a few technical changes to the bill. First, this amendment modifies the short title to better reflect the policies of both sections of the bill. Second, this amendment updates the effective dates throughout the bill to ensure that States and HHS have the time necessary to correctly implement the provisions. Next, it includes a requirement that the Office of the Inspector General at HHS review the implementation of the requirements in this bill regarding terminated providers and report back to Congress on what they find. This is an important feedback loop to ensure appropriate oversight. Finally, the amendment clarifies that the fee-for-service provider directory is required to include physicians and, at a State's option, other providers. The amendment also clarifies the information that could be included in the directory. Modification to Amendment No. 1 Offered by Mr. Bucshon

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to modify the second instruction relating to page 13, line 1, as provided at the desk.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan amendment to H.R. 3716. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I am here to support Dr. Murphy's tremendous work in the area of mental illness. It shows that one person really can make a difference. Dr. Murphy is leading the charge for our country to change the way that we deal with our mental health programs. I have got direct experience with this. I have a high school friend who suffered from schizophrenia and eventually lost her family as it is related to that. I have had two high school friends who suffered from severe depression and ended up suicidal and subsequently did take their own lives. This is critical legislation. With people like Dr. Murphy working hard to get this done, we really can make a difference on behalf of people with severe mental illness in our country. I commend you, Dr. Murphy, for the strong work. Continue to push. I am hopeful we can get this through the House of Representatives this year.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today in support of the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015. Before I came to Congress, I spent my career taking care of patients. As a physician, I want every American to have access to quality, affordable care. The legislation before us today marks the next step toward that goal. Last month, for the first time, we put a bill to dismantle ObamaCare on the President's desk. It is no surprise that he vetoed it. Now, with this veto override vote, we are exercising our constitutional power to the fullest extent and bypassing the President to do what is right for our country. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this bill to show the American people that the House of Representatives is doing everything in our power to stop this disastrous law and replace it with a patient-centered healthcare plan.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S.J. Res. 24, which expresses congressional disapproval under the Congressional Review Act of the EPA's rule on existing power plants. I also support S.J. Res. 23 that was just debated. According to the EPA's own cost-benefit analysis, these regulations would do very little to impact global temperatures, but these regulations will, without a doubt, be devastating for Hoosier businesses and families that rely on affordable energy. Those hurt the most will be the poor and seniors on a fixed income. Mr. Speaker, advances in how we produce energy should be achieved through innovation, technology, and efficient business practices, not by unobtainable Federal Government mandates from the EPA. Mr. Speaker, Indiana disapproves of the EPA's attack on our State's economy and our State's jobs. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this overreach by supporting S.J. Res. 23 and 24.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my good friend Robert T. Grand, who turns 60 this year. A graduate of Wabash College and IU McKinney School of law, Bob has committed his adult life to public service. Bob has been a tremendous advocate for Hoosiers through his work with former Indiana Gov. Bob Orr, Senator Dick Lugar, President Bush, Governor Mike Pence, and Senator Dan Coats and his efforts working for common-sense public policy, especially in areas of government regulation. In fact, the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America, named Bob as ``Lawyer of the Year'' for his work in government relations practice and municipal law. Bob, congrats on six decades of success and here's to many more years of health and happiness.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3033, the Research Excellence and Advancements for Dyslexia Act, the READ Act. Dyslexia is a personal issue for my family. My daughter struggled to learn to read. She dreaded reading aloud in class and worrying about what her classmates thought affected her self-esteem. My wife and I had her tutored, and we had some testing. With hard work, our daughter was able to catch up and surpass her classmates. But it wasn't until high school that she was diagnosed with dyslexia. This is an important piece of legislation that dedicates specific funds to dyslexia research, including early detection. This bill will help more children get a proper diagnosis. I sometimes wonder, had my wife and I not been engaged in this process, what might have become of my daughter's academic career and what about all the other students out there who may be misdiagnosed. So I encourage my colleagues to support the READ Act.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and honor two southern Indiana schools for their distinguished success. Farmersville Elementary School in Mt. Vernon and North Elementary School in Poseyville were recently selected as 2015 National Blue Ribbon schools by the U.S. Department of Education for their academic excellence. Each school will be honored in November, along with 333 other schools from across the country, at a ceremony here in Washington, D.C. Both schools were recognized as exemplary high-performing schools which is, without a doubt, due to the hard work of dedicated teachers and faculty and committed students. Congratulations to Farmersville and North Elementary Schools. This is a well-deserved national recognition.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, October is National Dyslexia Awareness Month. This is something that is very close to my family. My wife and I watched our daughter struggle to learn to read. She dreaded reading aloud in class, and worrying what her classmates thought affected her self-esteem. With hard work, our daughter was able to catch up and surpass many of her classmates. Over time, she discovered her strengths in math and science, which helped her increase her confidence. It wasn't until high school that we found out she actually has dyslexia. This diagnosis has helped her understand how her brain works and realize that her difference gives her some advantages. We are extremely proud of how hard she has worked to overcome these challenges and not let them get in the way of her success. Mr. Speaker, it is important that we bring awareness to dyslexia and educate our communities about the impact on families.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Madam Speaker, with all due respect, a radical agenda is protecting an organization that dismembers body parts and sells them for profit. For the record, I am probably the only Member of this body to have operated on babies as young as 23 weeks' gestation. In fact, the smallest baby I operated on weighed only 650 grams. As a physician, I spent my career caring for patients regardless of their situations. So I take access to health care very seriously. I find it troubling that those on the other side, most of whom have never spent a day caring for patients, continue to mislead the American people about the facts of Planned Parenthood. Here are a few: By its own statistics, Planned Parenthood only treats 2 percent of the Nation's women for any reason. Planned Parenthood doesn't offer women some of the most basic primary care. It doesn't provide services like mammograms, cardiovascular blood tests, or bone mass measurements. Over the past 10 years, Planned Parenthood cut cancer screenings by half while it increased abortion services by 40 percent. Across the country, we have 13,000 federally qualified or rural health centers that can provide basic health services compared to only 700 Planned Parenthood facilities that really don't provide these services at all. Madam Speaker, taxpayers should not be forced to fund this organization when we have so many other alternatives.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as an original coauthor of this legislation, H.R. 1725. The reauthorization of NASPER would allow SAMHSA to provide grants to States for the establishment, implementation, and improvement of prescription drug-monitoring programs, or PDMPs, offering timely access to accurate prescription information for healthcare providers. As a physician, I understand this is critical to a provider's ability to screen and treat patients at risk for addiction. The NASPER program also promotes greater information sharing among States by requiring grantees to facilitate these monitoring programs with at least one bordering State while simultaneously protecting against unauthorized access to patient records. This reauthorization language would also encourage States to explore ways to incorporate access to their PDMPs into provider workflow systems, such as electronic health records and e-prescribing. Given the growing problem of prescription drug abuse, this is a commonsense measure to protect the public. I want to thank Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Kennedy, and Ranking Member Pallone for their work on this legislation. I urge all of my colleagues to support this important bill.

Mr. BUCSHON

Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1734, the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act of 2015. This legislation will have a direct impact on the constituents in the Eighth District because Indiana has more coal ash ponds than any other State. I was concerned that the EPA's final rule on coal combustion residuals lacked clarity and did not adequately address enforcement of the Federal minimum standards for public health and safety. H.R. 1734 fixes this by giving States like Indiana the authority to implement coal ash rules in a way that protects the environment, public health, and good-paying jobs rather than totally deferring to bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. This legislation also reconfirms that recycling this nonhazardous material helps keep utility costs low, provides for low-cost, durable construction materials and reduces waste. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation.