Purchased and Referred Care Improvement Act of 2025
Official title: To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to address liability for payment of charges or costs associated with provision of purchased/referred care services, and for other purposes.
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Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 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.
Purchased and Referred Care Improvement Act of 2025
This bill specifies that the Indian Health Service (IHS) must reimburse patients for their out-of-pocket costs for authorized purchased/referred care services within 30 days. (The IHS provides medical and dental services directly to American Indian and Alaska Native patients whenever possible. However, when services are not available, IHS beneficiaries may be referred to private providers. This is called purchased/referred care.)
Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish and implement procedures to allow a patient who paid out of pocket for purchased/referred care services authorized by the IHS to be reimbursed by the IHS for that payment no later than 30 days after the patient submits required documentation.
Additionally, the bill requires HHS to update applicable provisions of and exhibits to the Indian Health Manual, contracts with providers, and other relevant documents and administrative authorities to incorporate the provisions of the bill.
The bill also replaces statutory references to contract health service with purchased/referred care.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
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Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 1418: Purchased and Referred Care Improvement Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1418/
"H.R. 1418: Purchased and Referred Care Improvement Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1418/.
H.R. 1418, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1418/.
[H.R. 1418: Purchased and Referred Care Improvement Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1418/)