The Senate is likely to consider a bill this week that would extend a moratorium on 2% cuts to Medicare payments, according to the American Hospital Association (AHA).
The extension is a major priority for hospital and doctor groups that say providers are still suffering financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sequester installed a 2% cut to Medicare claims in 2013, but Congress paused the cuts last year at the onset of the pandemic. Congress has extended the moratorium on the cuts several times, with the latest moratorium to expire March 31.
The House passed a nine-month extension of the moratorium last Friday, but it remains unclear whether the Senate will take up that legislation, which includes several other extenders.
Instead, a bill proposed by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, appears to be a likely contender for passage, said Tom Nickels, AHA’s executive vice president for government relations, during a call with reporters Tuesday.
The majority leader’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on the timing or specific legislation for this week.
The legislation extends the moratorium through the public health emergency for COVID-19, which is likely to run through 2021.
However, the moratorium is still likely to expire arch 31 as the House is out of session until April 13 for its Easter recess. But the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) could hold back paying Medicare claims to providers until after final passage.
“If the Senate does act before [the moratorium expires] it sends a strong signal for CMS to hold those claims about a week or so until the House comes back and approves the Senate action,” said AHA President Rick Pollack on the call.
CMS has done this before. For example, the agency held back claims payments until Congress passed a “doc fix” that delayed a more than 20% cut to physician payments.
CMS told Fierce Healthcare that it doesn't comment on pending legislation in response to a question on whether it would delay payments.
However, the Collins-Shaheen legislation does not include another major ask among provider groups.
The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue package recently approved triggers an automatic 4% cut to Medicare payments that is expected to go into effect in 2022. The cuts are part of a law called PAYGO, enacted in 2010, which triggers automatic spending cuts when legislation increases the deficit over a certain threshold.
The House bill delayed that cut from taking effect, but the Collins and Shaheen bill does not address that impending cut. However, AHA officials are confident Congress will eventually delay the cuts as they have taken action before.