Medicare Bill Includes No Nursing Facility Cuts

VHCA (7/10/2008)

The U.S. Senate last night voted in favor of cloture 69-30 on the Medicare bill.  The vote was structured in a way that an “aye” vote for cloture was also a vote in favor of final passage.  Having previously passed the House, the bill now goes to the President for his signature.  White House staff has already signaled that President Bush will veto the bill.  If that does come to pass, and that appears likely, the Congress will move to override the veto, requiring 2/3 of each body.  Both the House and Senate appear to have sufficient votes for an override.

The bill includes no nursing home cuts, an 18 month extension of the Medicare Part B outpatient therapy exceptions process retroactive to July 1, 2008, delays durable medical equipment competitive bidding for 18 months, and also includes one of the provisions from AHCA's Long Term Care Quality and Modernization Act by permitting skilled nursing facilities to serve as originating sites for telehealth services under Medicare.

In the meantime, as AHCA has previously reported, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has indicated that there will be a 10-business day hold on claims. Therefore, we continue to encourage providers to delay filing claims for Part B therapy services until July 15. For those who choose to file prior to July 15, please remember to no longer use the modifiers when billing for therapy services.