A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act and title IV of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to eliminate the 15 percent reduction in payment amounts to home health agencies furnishing home health services under the Medicare program, and to prov

4 Pages·1999·0.18 MB·English

by  United States. Congress. House

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106TiIIsTCSOBNsGsRo.ESS HT".f R. 2O/6^11 8
ToamendtitleX^TIIoftheSocialSecurityActandtitleJVoftheBalanced
Bud<retActof 1997 to eliminatethe 15 percent reduction in pa.Ainent
amountstohomehealtha<j:enciesfm-nishinghomehealthsen-icesunder
the medicare |)roo:i-am, and to piwide for a 36-month grace period
forhomehealth agenciestorepayovenia.MiientsmadebytheSecretaiy
ofHealthandHumanSemces.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July27,1999
Mr.AcivERMAX(forherself,Mr.BOEHLERT,Mr. SMITHofNewJei-sey,Mr.
B.UCER, Mr. COBURX, Mr. CoOK, Mr. CRO^^'LEY, Mr. FoRBES, Mr.
Frost,Mr.Gilchrest,Mr.Goode,Mr.HallofTexas,Mr.Hilll\rd,
Mr. Hixchey, Ms. Kaptur, Mrs. Kelly, Mr. King, Ms. Lee, Mrs.
RLvLONEYofNewYork, Mr. INUscara, IMr. McHuGH, Ur. McNulty,
Ms.MiLLEXDER-INLuDoxALD,Mr.Nadler,Mr.Key,Mr.Railvll,Mr.
Romero-Barcelo,Mr. Saxders,Mr. SerRxVXO,Ms. Slaughter, Mr.
Towxs,Mr.Walsh,Mr.Weixer,andMr.Wihtfield)introducedthe
follou-ingbill;whichwasreferredtotheCommitteeonWaysandMeans,
andinadditiontotheCommitteeonCommerce,foraperiodtobesubse-
quentlydeterminedbytheSpeaker,ineachcaseforconsiderationofsuch
pro\isonsasfall^vithinthejurisdictionofthecommitteeconcerned
A
BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act and title
IV of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to eliminate
the 15 percent reduction in payment amounts to home
health agencies furnishing home health services under
the medicare program, and to provide for a 36-month
grace period for home health agencies to repay overpay-
—
2
ments made by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services.
1 BeitenactedhytheSenateandHouseofRepresenta-
2 tivesoftheUnitedStatesofAmericainCongressassembled,
3 SECTION1.SHORTTITLE.
4 ThisActmaybecitedasthe"MedicareHomeHealth
5 ImprovementActof1999".
6 SEC.2.ELIMINATIONOFAUTOMATIC 15PERCENTREDUC-
7 TIONINPAYMENTLIMITS.
—
8 (a)Prospectr^PaymentSyste.m.
9 (1) L\ GEXERAL.—Section 1895(b)(3) of the
10 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395fff(b)(3)) is
11 amended
12 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking
13 "but if the reduction in Umits described in
14 clause(ii)hadbeenineffect";
15 (B)bystrikingclause(ii);and
16 (C) in su—bparagraph (A)(i), bystriking (i)
17 Ix GENERAL. " and adjustingthe margin ac-
18 cordingly.
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19 (2) Conforming a^mendment. Section
20 1895(d)(3) ofsuchAct (42 U.S.C. 1395fff(d)(3)) is
21 amended by striking "(including the reduction de-
22 scribedinclause(ii)ofsuchsubsection)".
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23 (b) Interlm Payment System. Section 4603 of
24 the Balanced BudgetAct of1997 (Pubhc Law 105-33),
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1 as amendedbysection 5101(c)(3) ofthe Taxand Trade
2 Relief Extension Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-277), is
3 amendedbystrikingsubsection(e).
4 SEC.3.OVERPAYMENTS.
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5 (a) 36-MoxTiiRepaymextPeriod. Inthecaseof
6 an overpayment bythe Secretary ofHealth and Human
7 Servicestoahomehealthagencyforhomehealthservices
8 furnished duringa costreportingperiodbeginningon or
9 afterOctober 1, 1997, as aresult ofpaymentUmitations
10 provided for under clause (v), (vi), or (viii) of section
11 1861(v)(l)(L) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
12 1395x(v)(l)(L)), the home health agency may elect to
13 repaythe amount ofsuch overpayment over a 36-mor h
14 periodbeginningonthedateofnotificationofsuchover-
15 payment. . ^—
16 (b)InterestoxO^^RPAYMEXTAniouxts.
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17 (1) 36-MOXTHgraceperiod.
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18 (A) Ix gexeral. Inthecaseofan agen-
19 cythatmakes an electionunder subsection (a),
20 - no interest shall accrue onthe outstandingbal-
21 anceoftheamountofoverpaymentduringsuch
22 36-monthperiod.
23 (B) 0\'ERDUE balaxces.—In the case of
24 such an agency, interest shall accrue on any
25 outstanding balance ofthe amount ofoverpay-
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CBSLIBMRV
1 ment after termination of such 36-month pe-
2 riod. Interest shall accrue under this subpara-
3 graph at the rate ofinterest charged bybanks ,
.-4- . forloansto theirmostfavoredcommercial cus-
5 tomers, aspublishedintheWall StreetJournal
6 ontheFridayimmediatelyfollowingthedateof
7 " theenactmentofthisAct.
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8 (2) Otheragencies. Inthecaseofanagen-
9 cydescribedinsubsection (a) thatdoesnotmakean
10 election under subsection (a), interest shall accrue
11 on the outstanding balance ofthe amount of over-
12 paymentattheratedescribedinthesecondsentence
13 ofparagraph (1)(B).
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14 (c) Termination. Noelectionundersubsection (a)
15 maybemadeforcostreportingperiods,orportionsofcost
16 reporting periods, beginning on or after the date ofthe
17 implementation of the prospective payment system for
18 homehealthservicesundersection 1895oftheSocialSe-
19 curityAct(42U.S.C.1395fff).
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20 (d)EFFECTrvEDate. Theprovisionsofsubsection
21 (a) shalltakeeffectasifincludedintheenactmentofthe
22 BalancedBudgetActof1997
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