The House overwhelmingly approved compromise budget legislation that would hit home health providers with two more years of the 2% reduction in Medicare reimbursement originally imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011.
 
The 332-94 vote on Dec. 12 reflected bipartisan support for ending the budget impasse that that led to the 16-day government shutdown in October. Provider group lobbyists anticipate the Senate also will approve the legislation shortly and send it President Obama for his signature.
The two-year extension leaves in place the provision in the underlying Budget Control Act that mandates continuation of the 2% Medicare provider reduction through 2023. Not certain at this point is whether lawmakers will allow the reduction to continue in force when the short-term budget compromise runs out in fiscal 2015.
 
Also uncertain is whether will seek other savings at the expense of home health to offset the costs of replacing the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for setting Medicare rates for physician services. The budget legislation allows three additional months for Congress to seek an alternative to the more than 20% reduction w3hich had been scheduled to take effect on Jan.1. Costs of such a “doc fix” could exceed $150 billion over 10 years, based on ideas developed by House and Senate Medicare committees. — Burt Schorr (burt.schorr1@verizon.net)
 
Editor’s note: See the House provisions under the budget agreement at: http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20131209/AMNT-113-HJRes59sa-2.pdf.