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Physician Pay Cut Delayed, Senate Passes Larger ‘Jobs’ Bill
Following President Barack Obama’s March 2 signature of a stop-gap package that delayed Medicare’s physician payment cut through the end of March, lawmakers have turned their attention to a broader package, a so-called “jobs” bill, H.R. 4213, that would extend relief through the end of the year and includes a host of health care related provisions.
Major provisions contained in H.R. 4213 include:
· Medicaid assistance: The bill extends the increased federal Medicaid matching assistance percentage (FMAP) for states included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for an additional six months from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011.
· Employed-physicians health information technology (IT): The bill ensures that hospital-based physicians, who practice in hospital-owned outpatient centers and clinics, qualify for federal health IT incentives under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
· Rural extenders and other provisions: Expiring Medicare payment provisions related to rural hospitals, long-term care hospitals, Section 508 hospital reclassifications, the technical component of certain physician pathology services, mental health services, and add-on payments for ambulances would be extended through the end of the year. The bill also makes a technical correction to reimburse Critical Access Hospitals at 101 percent of their reasonable costs for Method 2 outpatient services.
· COBRA: The COBRA benefit subsidy through December 31 would be extended.
· Physician payment fix: Delays the 21 percent Medicare payment cut for physicians through September 30.
· Pension relief: The bill provides temporary, targeted funding relief in plan years 2008-2011 for single employer and multi-employer pension plans that suffered significant losses in asset value due to the steep market slide in 2008.
The bill passed the Senate 62-36 and will now go to conference committee, where differences with the House bill will be reconciled. The House is expected to be very engaged with the conference process as its bill has substantial differences from that of the Senate. Congress hopes to have this legislation signed into law by President Obama by the Easter recess in early April.
