RACHEL COHRS November 19, 2019
The U.S. House of
Representatives on Tuesday passed a stopgap government funding bill that delays
$4 billion in cuts to Medicaid disproportionate-share hospital payments until
Dec. 20.
The bill also
includes short-term funding extensions for several healthcare priorities such
as Medicaid block grant funding to the U.S. territories, community health
centers and the community behavioral health clinic demonstration program. The
House passed the continuing resolution on a largely party-line vote.
Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he would support a clean continuing
resolution to fund the government through Dec. 20.
"The House
needs to send us a short-term funding bill, which the Senate can pass and which
the president will sign," McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
The healthcare
funding and delays to DSH cuts will only last until December, when lawmakers
will again try to reach an agreement to fund the government. House Majority
Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) urged lawmakers to reach a permanent deal before
2020.
The continuing
resolution "that we are passing today is evidence of a dysfunctional U.S.
Senate that refused to act in the appropriations process," Hoyer told
reporters Tuesday.
The one-month
deal gives lawmakers more time to negotiate funding for several healthcare
programs. Longer-term funding extensions would cost billions of dollars, and
lawmakers have not yet agreed on how to pay for them. Legislation to address
surprise billing and lower drug prices are potential offsets, but bills on both
issues have stalled so far.
Several prominent
hospital trade groups voiced relief at the delay for DSH cuts, but still are
pushing for a longer-term assurance.
"This
temporary delay is a step in the right direction toward ensuring hospitals and
health systems can continue to care for the most vulnerable in our communities.
Until a more sustainable, permanent solution is reached, we continue to urge
that these cuts be delayed for at least two fiscal years," a spokesperson
for the American Hospital Association said.
The Federation of
American Hospitals called the short-term DSH cut delay "the right thing to
do," but also asked for a long-term fix.
Senate Finance
Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he expects to further delay DSH payment cuts
in December, but that he wants hospitals to agree to disclose all public
funding they receive to the CMS and state Medicaid programs, including non-DSH
supplemental payments at the facility level.
"Since we
agree on everything else, and I agree with them on 90% of the stuff they want,
why are they fighting us on just getting a little bit of information they have
already accumulated?" Grassley told Modern Healthcare.
Several lawmakers
have pushed for reforms to how Medicaid DSH payments are distributed, but
Grassley said the efforts are dead this year.
Beth Feldpush,
senior vice president of policy and advocacy at America's Essential Hospitals,
said the group is grateful for the short-term delay of payment cuts and favors
the House Energy and Commerce Committee's approach for a longer-term fix. The
committee passed a bill that would repeal DSH cuts for fiscal 2020 and 2021 and lower the
reductions scheduled for fiscal 2022 from $8 billion to $4 billion.
"The bipartisan
House Energy and Commerce plan to repeal more than two years' worth of cuts is
the best solution we have right now, and we call on the full House and Senate
to pass it," Feldpush said.
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