Ann & Natalie’s Compliance Corner
Welcome back to Ann & Natalie's Compliance Corner! This month, we discuss The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007, the “stop-gap” Medicare legislation intended to temporarily increase physician pay rates, extend the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and ensure that rural seniors and other vulnerable populations receive adequate health care. Missed last month’s discussion of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report on access to health care? Click here.
On December 18, 2008 the United States Senate approved The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act, which will provide a six-month reprieve from a scheduled 10-percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians in 2008. The bill will extend a number of expiring provisions related to seniors’ health care and continue authorization for SCHIP through March 31, 2009. The House passed the bill with a 411-3 vote the following day, and the President signed the bill into law (public law 110-173) on December 29, 2007.
The bill, introduced by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA), serves as an interim solution to the Senate’s unsuccessful attempts to reach a consensus on Medicare reform.
“This bill includes essential policies for the government to make sure doctors can continue to treat Medicare beneficiaries and to preserve health care services in rural areas of the country,” said Grassley in a December 18, 2007 press release. “It’s a six-month extension that serves as a stop-gap until Congress can take care of the important Medicare business that got backed up this fall.”
For instance, SCHIP expired in the fall of last year and the program has been operating under stop-gap measures since the President vetoed two authorization bills that would have contributed $35 billion in funding to SCHIP over the next five years.
“The longer extension of SCHIP will allow Congress to enter the new year with a renewed focus on reauthorization while also providing funding certainty to states,” said Grassley.
The bill also includes a number of other Medicare provisions. It funds the positive physician payment update by replacing the scheduled 10.1% cut to the Medicare physician reimbursement rate in 2008 with a 0.5% increase through June 30, 2008. It also extends Medicare Advantage special needs plans through 2009 and continues the incentive payment program through June 30, 2008 by offering 5% bonus payments for providers practicing in shortage areas.
Yet, all of the bill’s provisions expire by the end of 2009 and Senators Grassley and Baucus stress the need for the implementation of longer-term measures.
“This bill takes needed, immediate steps to shore up Medicare by restoring physician payments and ensuring seniors’ continued access to health care in rural areas,” said Baucus in a December 18th 2007 press release. “But next year, Congress must move boldly to improve Medicare for America’s seniors.”
The American Medical Association (AMA) reiterated the Senators’ concerns, saying that this short-term fix “creates great uncertainty for Medicare patients and physicians,” and implored Congress “to break the tradition of short-term interventions that are not fully funded and fail to chart a course for replacing a flawed payment formula.”
To read the Committee on Finance’s Press Release and Proposed Provisions, click here: http://www.senate.gov/~finance/
To read the text of the bill, click here:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s110-2499
Disclaimer: The content of Compliance Corner is for general informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as compliance guidance or advice. Consult your compliance advisor or attorney for compliance or legal advice on specific issues related to your practice or compliance program.
