Senate Unanimously Passes CHRONIC Care Act

Senate Passes Bipartisan Healthcare Bill to Improve Health Outcomes for Medicare Beneficiaries Living With Chronic Conditions

WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) applauded last night’s unanimous Senate passage of S. 870, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2017. The bipartisan bill will improve health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries living with chronic conditions.

“The Finance Committee has been working hard to address and improve healthcare outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions for the last two years,” Hatch said. “The CHRONIC Care Act is a culmination of a bipartisan, committee-wide effort, which included rigorous engagement and feedback from affected stakeholders. This legislation will improve disease management, lower Medicare costs and streamline care coordination services – all without adding to the deficit. Addressing these issues is critical for the increasing number of individuals who live with multiple chronic conditions and will age into the Medicare program over the next two decades. The CHRONIC Care Act is one of the few bipartisan healthcare bills to pass the Senate this Congress, and I urge my colleagues in the House to act quickly on this legislation and get it to the president’s desk to be signed into law.”

“Today is a big day in the ongoing effort to update and strengthen Medicare’s guarantee to seniors,” Wyden said. “Senate passage of the Finance Committee’s chronic care bill means seniors with multiple chronic illnesses will have their individual needs better met and get the type of care they need earlier. In the days ahead I will be working with Chairman Hatch, Senators Isakson and Warner, and others in Congress to ensure these policies become law as soon as possible.”

“This legislation will empower doctors and patients to work together to improve overall health and help keep patients out of the hospital,” Isakson said. “I am thrilled the Senate passed this critical legislation to help ensure seniors with multiple chronic health conditions receive better care at a lower cost through Medicare.”

“There are a number of impressive innovations in the public and private sector to deliver better care to patients with multiple chronic conditions,” said Warner. “This Chronic Care Working Group deliberately worked with patients, advocacy groups, innovators, and other health care stakeholders to put together a set of bipartisan, cost-effective, and evidence-based policies that will better facilitate the delivery of high-quality and affordable care for our Medicare population. This bill takes the necessary steps to modernize Medicare to better meet the needs of today’s seniors and I am encouraged to see it move forward.”

A section-by-section summary of the CHRONIC Care Act of 2017 can be found here.

A one-page summary of the CHRONIC Care Act of 2017 can be found here.

The legislative text of the CHRONIC Care Act of 2017 can be found here.

Background

·         Announced at a May 2015 hearing on chronic care, the Finance Committee formed the bipartisan Chronic Care Working Group led by Isakson and Warner to develop policy ideas to address Medicare spending on treating multiple chronic illnesses. This group released a discussion draft outline of bipartisan proposals in October 2016 that incorporated feedback from interested stakeholders.

·         In December 2016, Hatch, Wyden, Isakson and Warner introduced the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2016 based on the working group’s discussion draft. The group reintroduced this legislation in April.  

·         In May, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing and later marked up the legislation. The CHRONIC Care Act unanimously passed out of committee.