Senate Proceeding on Jun 3rd, 2009 :: 1:32:55 to 1:42:10
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1:32:36 to 1:32:56( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: quor rob robert i assume we th mr. roberts: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed. .the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. roberts: i rise today to again senate finest, our colleague, the late craig thomas, from

1:32:55 to 1:42:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Pat Roberts

1:32:57 to 1:33:18( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: wyoming. two year -- two years ago the -- craig was dependable in the finest sense of the word. he defined the word "dependable." he was t workhorse, not a show horse. on a personal note for many senators, craig was not only a

1:33:19 to 1:33:41( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: colleague but a dear i will cherish that always and craig was has fellow marine. in this case, semper fidelis, always faithful is most appropriate. if anyone faced trouble in their life, the one person you would want by your side would be craig thomas. this is why i am proud and honored again to join with my

1:33:42 to 1:34:02( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: colleagues, kent conrad and tom harkin, wand the from wyoming, john barrow so, orrin hatch to introduce the senate rural health care caucus bill in honor of senator the bill we are introducing is the craig thomas rural hospital and provider equity actith

1:34:03 to 1:34:25( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: emphasis on the equity. 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, why, craig was truly a champion for strengthening our rural health care delivery system and providing relief to our hospitals and other providers in our ruler areas.

1:34:26 to 1:34:46( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: he -- in our rural eamples he served for 10 years as cochair of the senate rural health care caucus. he took on the reins as cochair as my fellow kansan bobole retired from the u.s. senate. and as i know person ail, it is hard to follow in of senator dole or thomas.

1:34:47 to 1:35:08( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: however craig did this with great ease and pride. his steady leadehip put the caucus on the map. he has made great strides in showing all of our colleagues the true needs of rural health care. we truly miss him during the current health care debate. i and members of the caucus miss him and his leadership greatly. one of the biggest accomplishments for craig in the

1:35:09 to 1:35:29( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: rural health care caucus was passage of the med modernization act in 2003 which provided a big boost to our rural hospitals and providers. there was recognition and support from our colleagues from allf our geographical areas large and small, for including these badly needed rural health provisions.

1:35:30 to 1:35:50( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: and these provisions included in the medicare bill much-provided relief to rural health providers, enhanced beneficiary access to quality health care services and improved our provider payments in areas. so many times those payments simply do not even come close to the cost of the provider and

1:35:51 to 1:36:11( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: service they provide to our rural citizens. however, you would never know that it was craig thomas behind the scenes working to get these rural health positions included in the medicare bill. craig was more concerned about getting the work done rather than taking the credit. so instead of take individual credit for his hard work and his dedication on the medicare bill,

1:36:12 to 1:36:32( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: he applauded the entire rural health care caucus and patted everybody else on the bafnlgt it is this kind of leadership tha set craig thomas apart from his colleagues. however, craig knew that while passage of the medicare bill was a giant step f we still had much, much, much work to do to ensure our rural

1:36:33 to 1:36:53( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: system can continue to survive. sometimes when they ask me about health care meaning most of the people interested reform, the media, oh, the health care providers, i simply say, you know, one of the things we want to do is make sure we preserve what we have. this is why we were pro honored to carry on his legacy

1:36:54 to 1:37:16( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: by introducing the craig thomas rural hospital and provider equity act in the 110th congress and again in this congress. we can enhance craig's legacy, certainly in this way. i would like to especially recognize a member of craig's former staff who has always worked extremely hard to advance rural health care causes and who

1:37:17 to 1:37:37( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: has remained a chaion for wyoming as a member of john barrasso's staff, erin dempsey. my staff has worked very closely with erin over the years. hard work. we're only as good as our staff here -- or at least some of us do actually add noit that.

1:37:38 to 1:37:58( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: erin, thank you for being such a hero along side craig and now senator barrow so. we are proud of you for everything you have done in behalf of rural healthare. this congress, with health care reform at the front and center, senators barrasso, harkin, hatch, and i will do our very best to lead in craigs

1:37:59 to 1:38:21( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: absence and ensure that rural health care does not get left behind. i have made a personal commitment to make sure this gets done and provide the much-needed relegal leave tour rural communities. this act recognizes that rural health care providers have very different needs than their urban counterparts and that health

1:38:22 to 1:38:42( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: care is not one-size-fits-all. the craig thomas rural hospital and provider equity act -- and the acronym of that by the way -- everything has to acronym in august -- is rhope -- so rhope of 2009 makes changes and regulations to providers.

1:38:43 to 1:39:03( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: it recognizes the difficulty in achieving the same scape scale as large urban facilities. this legislation equalizes medicare's disproportionate share of hospital pay bring the rur line with our urban hospitals. this bill also provides additional assistance for small

1:39:04 to 1:39:26( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: rural hospitals who have low volume of patients. often these hospitals have trouble make ends meet under the medicare payment system. the craig thomas rural hospital and provider equity act, rhope, also provides a capital infrastructure loan program to make loans available to h rural facilities include

1:39:27 to 1:39:49( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: 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 taboo incentive programs aimed at improving the quality of care by attracting health care providers to health professional shortage areas.

1:39:50 to 1:40:10( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: the first is the medicare incentive payment program which provides a 10% bonus -- a 10% bonus payment to physicians that will practice in shortage areas. the second is the physician fee schedule work geographic adjustment -- that's a mouthful, but it simply means it will bring rural doctors' medicare

1:40:11 to 1:40:31( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: fee schedules more in line with urban doctors. the bill also recognizes that other providers do play a great role in the rural health care delivery s our bill increases the payment cap for rural health clinics to keep them in line with community health centers. it choice a 5% add-on payment

1:40:32 to 1:40:52( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: for rural home health services and provides a 5% add-on payment for ground ambulance services in our rural areas. one of the provisions in the bill -- and this is the one that craig thomas certainly championed -- is a provision to allow marriage and family therapists and licensed

1:40:53 to 1:41:16( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: professional medicare for their services and beaid the rate of social workers. currently the medicare program only permits psychiatrists and psychologists, social workers, and clinical nurse specialists to bill medicare for mental health care services that are provided to our seniors. however, most rural most rural counties simply do

1:41:17 to 1:41:37( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: not have a psychiatrist or a psychologist. marriage and family therapists, however, and 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 qlity for care by creating a pilot program

1:41:38 to 1:41:58( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: for providing incentives for home health agencies to purchase and utilize home monitoring and also communication technologies and facilitates telehealth services across mr. president, today i am proud and honored to introduce this bill on behalf of our former

1:41:59 to 1:42:11( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: senator and colleague, craig thomas. we miss him greatly as a personal friend, a confidant and colleague. our thoughts and prayers are with his wife sueon and, his sons patrick and greg, and his