Articles and Blogs

CMS Delays 2-Midnight Rule for Six Months Late on January 31, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced a further delay in the implementation of regulations known as the “2-Midnight Rule.”  As a result, Medicare Administrative Contractors (“MACs”) and other review contractors will not be permitted to perform post-payment “patient status reviews” of claims... READ MORE

Support Grows for Delaying 2-Midnight Rule A bill that would further delay enforcement of CMS’s 2-midnight rule has garnered the support of almost 70 members of the House of Representatives. The measure, introduced by Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-PA), would extend the current enforcement delay an additional six months to October 31, 2014 and implement a... READ MORE

HFMA Endorses Stark Administration Simplification Act On January 24, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (“HFMA”) officially endorsed the Stark Administrative Simplification Act (H.R. 3776). The bill is the result of a lobbying effort by the Hall Render Stark Law Correction Coalition (“SLCC”). An organization of hospital and health systems from across the country, the SLCC seeks... READ MORE

House Passes Massive Government Spending Bill On Wednesday, the House passed a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill.  The bill (H.R. 3547), which passed 359-67, establishes the discretionary spending level for the fiscal year and should end the threat of a government shutdown for much of the remainder of 2014.  READ MORE

House Energy and Commerce Republicans Voice Support for Health Extenders On January 9, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing to examine a number of Medicare funding programs set to expire.  In the recent past, Congress has annually renewed some 20 temporary programs (known as “Medicare extenders”) as part of a... READ MORE

Bipartisan Stark Law Correction Bill Introduced On Monday, Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced H.R. 3776, a bill to correct the disproportionate penalties a hospital can incur under the Stark Law for having an unwritten, unsigned or lapsed agreement that is otherwise compliant with federal fraud and abuse law. The... READ MORE

House to Introduce Hall Render-Drafted Bipartisan Stark Law Legislation Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) have announced that they will introduce legislation to correct the disproportionate penalties a hospital can incur for technical violations of the Stark Law. The legislation, which will be formally introduced on Monday, December 16, was drafted by... READ MORE

House and Senate Likely to Mark Up SGR Bills Both the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee tentatively announced they will mark up legislation to repeal and replace the Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”) formula before Congress leaves for Christmas break next week. If the Ways and Means Committee does mark up... READ MORE

Push for SGR Repeal Continues The Senate Finance Committee will meet on December 12 to consider a bill to fully repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”). The legislation that will be offered by Finance Committee Chairman Baucus (D-MT) will be distributed 48 hours before the start of the markup. Although he has not identified which... READ MORE

House Passes ACA Fix On Friday, the House passed a bill (H.R. 3350) that would allow health insurers to sell individual health policies in 2014 that were in effect as of January 1, 2013, even if they don’t meet minimum coverage requirements set by the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Passage of the bill, comes a day... READ MORE