Tag: sequestration

WASHINGTON - AAHomecare joined 50 other major health care groups in a Feb. 28 letter to Congressional leaders seeking to extend the current moratorium on the 2% Medicare sequester to the end of the public health emergency. Without further action, the sequester will resume at a 1% cut for April through June of this year and increase to 2% starting July 1, 2022.  A continued pause to the sequester would be welcome relief for HME suppliers and other health care providers who are facing rising product...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., have introduced a bill that would extend the moratorium on the 2% Medicare sequestration cuts through the public health emergency.   Right now, the moratorium is set to expire March 31.   The “pay for” for the bill, S. 748, would extend the sequestration cuts to 2031, instead of 2030, said Seth Johnson, senior vice president of government affairs for Pride Mobility Products.  “We...

WASHINGTON – AAHomecare this week reported that an updated bill may be introduced to extend the moratorium on the 2% Medicare sequester cuts through the end of 2021 and address other potentially looming cuts. The current moratorium on the sequester cuts is set to expire March 31. “AAHomecare and our health care sector coalition partners have redoubled efforts to engage legislators in support of extending the pause on these cuts,” the association wrote in a bulletin. The...

Reps. Brad Scheider, D-Ill., and David McKinley, R-West Va., introduced have introduced H.R. 315, new legislation to continue the moratorium on the Medicare sequester cuts through the duration of the public health emergency. In December, Congress extended the pause on the 2% cuts, which were set to expire at the end of 2020, through March 2021…CMS published a final rule on Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology and the Definition of “Reasonable and Necessary” on Jan. 14. The...

WASHINGTON – Industry stakeholders are making a final push to get H.R. 8158 included in an omnibus package that must pass before the 116th session of Congress convenes.  The bill, spearheaded by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, would remove the budget neutrality requirement for home oxygen therapy in rural areas.  “We’re doing our best to convince the committees of jurisdiction that...

WASHINGTON – Reps. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and David McKinley, R-West Va., have introduced legislation to prevent Medicare reimbursement cuts to health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, AAHomecare reports. H.R. 8840, the Medicare Sequester COVID Moratorium Act, would continue to pause the 2% Medicare sequester cuts through the public health emergency. “Suspending the 2% Medicare sequester cut has been especially helpful to the home medical equipment community, given...

WASHINGTON – Reps. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and David McKinley, R-West Va., have introduced legislation to prevent Medicare reimbursement cuts to health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, AAHomecare reports. H.R. 8840, the Medicare Sequester COVID Moratorium Act, would continue to pause the 2% Medicare sequester cuts through the public health emergency. “Suspending the 2% Medicare sequester cut has been especially helpful to the home medical equipment...

WASHINGTON - CMS contractors this week provided new and revised questions and answers about the 2% cut in Medicare payments that went into effect April 1 as part of automatic spending cuts.The new and revised Q&As are as follows:Question: If a durable medical equipment capped rental period started before April 1, 2013, are the rental payments for months after April 1, 2013, subject to the 2% reduction?Answer: Any claims for rental payments with a "FROM" date of service on or after April 1, 2013,...