Bill Sponsor
Senate Bill 433
116th Congress(2019-2020)
Home Health Payment Innovation Act of 2019
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in Senate on Feb 11, 2019
Overview
Text
Introduced in Senate 
Feb 11, 2019
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Introduced in Senate(Feb 11, 2019)
Feb 11, 2019
Not Scanned for Linkage
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Multiple bills can contain the same text. This could be an identical bill in the opposite chamber or a smaller bill with a section embedded in a larger bill.
Bill Sponsor regularly scans bill texts to find sections that are contained in other bill texts. When a matching section is found, the bills containing that section can be viewed by clicking "View Bills" within the bill text section.
Bill Sponsor is currently only finding exact word-for-word section matches. In a future release, partial matches will be included.
S. 433 (Introduced-in-Senate)


116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 433


To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve home health payment reforms under the Medicare program.


IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 11, 2019

Ms. Collins (for herself, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Jones, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Paul, and Mrs. Shaheen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance


A BILL

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve home health payment reforms under the Medicare program.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “Home Health Payment Innovation Act of 2019”.

SEC. 2. Improvements to Medicare innovations and managed care related to home health services.

(a) Expanded waivers in shared savings programs.—Section 1899(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 395jjj(f)), is amended by adding at the end the following: “Beginning not later than January 1, 2020, the Secretary shall include a waiver of the ‘confined to his home’ requirement under sections 1814(a)(2)(C) and 1835(a)(2)(A) in one or more programs under this section.”.

(b) Flexibility in Medicare advantage plans.—Section 1852 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww–2) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(o) Flexibility if providing home health services.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any MA organization shall be permitted to waive the ‘confined to his home’ requirement in the home health services benefit when the organization determines it is in the best interest of the enrollee.”.

SEC. 3. Improvements to home health payment reforms under Medicare.

(a) Application of budget neutrality.—Section 1895(b)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395fff(b)(3)), as amended by section 51001(a)(2) of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–123), is amended—

(1) in subparagraph (A)(iv), in the fourth sentence—

(A) by striking “shall make” and inserting “shall not make”; and

(B) by striking “and shall provide a description” and all that follows through the period and inserting a period; and

(2) in subparagraph (D)—

(A) in the subparagraph heading, by striking “assumptions” and inserting “evidence”;

(B) in clause (i)—

(i) by striking “differences between assumed” and all that follows through “and actual”;

(ii) by inserting “attributable to the implementation of paragraphs (2)(B) and (4)(B)” after “behavior changes”; and

(iii) by adding at the end the following: “The Secretary shall publish the determination under this clause with respect to an applicable year, including a description of the evidence used to make such determination, in the notice and comment rulemaking to update the prospective payment system under this subsection for such year. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term ‘evidence’ means the most recent data after January 1, 2020, that reflects the difference between real changes in case mix and behavioral changes relating to implementation of the provisions of and amendments made by section 51001 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–123).”;

(C) in clause (ii), by inserting “attributable to the implementation of paragraphs (2)(B) and (4)(B)” after “expenditures”; and

(D) in clause (iii)—

(i) by adding “attributable to the implementation of paragraphs (2)(B) and (4)(B)” after “expenditures”; and

(ii) by adding at the end the following: “If such a temporary increase or decrease does not exceed 2.00 percent in any given year, the Secretary shall apply the entire increase or decrease in the next calendar year payment update. In the case where such a temporary increase or decrease exceeds 2.00, the Secretary shall phase in the temporary increase or decrease in equal amounts not to exceed 2.00 percent in any given year through the respective calendar year payment updates. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the Secretary shall complete any such phase-in adjustment no later than 2029 and shall have the authority, after 2025, to waive the phase-in requirement as necessary to achieve budget neutrality by 2029. Prior to implementing such phase-in adjustments after 2025, the Secretary shall first receive certification from the Office of the Actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that any such adjustments are appropriate.”.

(b) Effective date.—The amendments made by this section shall take effect as if included in the enactment of such section 51001(a)(2).