MHA Priority Bills

113th Congress (1st session)

H.R. 2801/S.1143, the Protecting Access to Rural Therapy Services Act of 2013 - adopts a default standard of “general supervision” by a physician or non-physician practitioner for outpatient therapeutic services and creates an exemption process for services that are risky and complex enough to require direct supervision.

H.R. 1920/S.1555, the DSH Reduction Relief Act of 2013 - delays the Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) cuts contained in the Patient Protection and AffordableCare Act(ACA) for two years until fiscal year 2016 (since original estimates of the number of uninsured individuals that were expected to gain coverage under the ACA have declined).

H.R. 1250/S. 1012, the Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2013, - makes needed improvements to the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program such as establishing a consolidated limit for medical record requests; improving auditor performance by implementing financial penalties and by requiring medical necessity audits to focus on widespread payment errors; and improving transparency.

H.R. 1787/S. 842, the Rural Hospital Access Act of 2013 - provides for an extension of the Medicare-dependent Hospital program and increased payments under the Medicare low-volume hospital program.

H.R. 2578, the Rural Hospital Fairness Act of 2013 - reinstates the outpatient “hold harmless” payments to eligible sole community hospitals and rural hospitals with no more than 100 beds.(These payments were intended to ease the transition from the prior reasonable cost-based payment system to the outpatient prospective payment system. However, these hospitals are still facing significant gaps between payment and costs.)

H.R. 1180/S.577, the Resident Physician Shortage Act of 2013 - lifts the 1996 cap on residency slots and increases the number of Medicare-supported physician training positions to at least 15,000 new resident positions.

H.R. 2931, the Fairness in Health Care Claims Guidance and Investigations Act - amends the False Claims Act assuring that unintentional billing disputes aren’t penalized as harshly as fraud.

H.R. 1179/S. 569, the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2013 -allows a period of observation services in a hospital toward satisfying the 3-day inpatient hospital requirement for coverage of skilled nursing services under Medicare.

H. Res. 356/S. Res. 26, a resolution that recognizes the essential role of rural hospitals and other providers to the survival and success of rural communities. The resolution recognizes that preserving and strengthening access to care is also crucial to the prosperity of the United States. It also celebrates health care professionals delivering care in rural areas.