Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

It's nice to know that even in the House Ways and Means Committee, occasionally a bill comes along that unites both parties. For instance, for two years Republicans and Democrats have worked together to ease the burden of Medicare regulations on providers ... oops, never mind. H.R. 810, this year's incarnation of the reg bill, became yet another subject of partisan bickering April 2 as Republicans added two amendments over strenuous Democratic objections, then passed the bill on a party-line vote. The first amendment, offered by Health Subcommittee Chair Nancy Johnson (R-CT), allows home health agencies to suspend the collection of Outcomes and Assessment Information Set data for patients whose bills are not paid by Medicare or Medicaid; the suspension lasts until the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has studied the value of such information for not longer than 18 months and issues new regulations on the matter. The second amendment speeds reinstatement of certain skilled nursing facility nurse aide training programs that have lost their approval for violation of program rules. The bill now must be reconciled with similar legislation passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which does not contain the controversial amendments.