Two Medicare programs that boost rural hospital payments will be temporarily extended as part of a loss-stopping federal spending bill that passed an initial vote in the Senate on Tuesday.
Congress must act before the weekend to prevent a government shutdown as the federal fiscal year ends on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) announced the spending package Monday. Seventy-two senators backed the bill’s continuation on Tuesday, giving it enough support to block a Republican vote in the final vote, which is expected to take place this week. this. House leaders have yet to release the lower house’s version of the resolution to keep the government running.
Under the Senate’s measure, the Medicare Dependent Hospital and Low Scale Hospital programs will be extended through December 17. If Congress fails to pass those extensions by Saturday, the old program will expire and the program will later revert to narrower criteria restricting hospital participation.
Congress established the Medicare Dependent Hospital program to increase financial assistance to rural hospitals with at least 60% of their patients covered by Medicare. About 180 hospitals — 6% of all prospective inpatient payment system facilities — have met the requirements this year, according to the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan policy organization. Congressional. Medicare made about $119 million in additional payments through the program in fiscal year 2018, according to a 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office. That same year, Congress extended the policy for another five years.
The resolution would further expand the current eligibility criteria for the Low Scale Hospital program. Congress expanded the criteria in 2018 to include hospitals with fewer than 3,800 discharges located more than 15 miles from the nearest inpatient hospital. According to the Congressional Research Service, just under 20% of hospitals with a prospective payment system are eligible for inpatients. If Congress does not approve an extension, eligibility for the program will be limited to facilities more than 25 miles from the nearest other hospital and with fewer than 200 patients per year.
With many rural hospitals obsessed with rising costs, consolidating providers, and challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital groups have signaled their support for these measures. temporary funding measures as well as a proposal to expand and further strengthen the two Medicare programs.
Chip Kahn, President and CEO of the American Hospitals Federation, said: “The big issue is not how long they will authorize the programs to continue. The American Hospital Association supports legislation to expand Medicare Dependent Hospitals and Low Scale Hospital programs, a spokeswoman said.
Lawmakers including Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) have introduced bills to permanently renew these two rural hospital programs. “We are looking for additional avenues to complete a longer bill, but nothing specific at this time,” a spokesperson for Casey wrote in an email. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the author of similar legislation, is working to pass it on its own or as part of a broader bid, a spokesman said.
The Senate spending bill does not address the ongoing federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic or the monkeypox epidemic, despite the White House’s request for a total of $26 billion to address the diseases. Infectious.
