On December 16, 2014, President Obama signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill that funds most government agencies through the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2015 (funding for the Department of Homeland Security is funded through February 27, 2015). With regard to HHS funding, the bill, among other things: holds CMS funding at FY 2014 levels; provides no new funding for Affordable Care Act implementation and blocks the use of CMS program management funds to support risk corridor payments; provides emergency funding to address the Ebola crisis; increases National Institutes of Health funding by $150 million over FY 2014 levels; provides funds to FDA to investigate counterfeit drugs within the United States and internationally; and reduces funding for the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) by $10 million. The explanatory statement also includes a number of health policy provisions. For instance, the report: expresses concerns about a CMS proposal to eliminate critical access hospital status for certain rural facilities; requests CMS to report on the impact of competitive bidding on treatment patterns of enteral nutrition patients residing in LTC facilities; directs CMS to review billing rules regarding implantable pain pump drugs; requests that CMS develop proposals to encourage short-cycle dispensing of outpatient prescription drugs in LTC facilities; directs CMS to educate providers on how to reduce Medicare claims errors, develop procedures to reduce the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) appeals backlog, and improve the appeals and audit processes; requests that CMS reconsider changes to payment for surgical procedures included in the annual Medicare physician fee schedule rule; and directs HRSA to work with covered entities under the 340B drug program “to better understand the way these entities support direct patient benefits from 340B discounted sales.”
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.