On February 26, 2015, the House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to vote on the following bills:
- H.R. 1021, "Protecting the Integrity of Medicare Act of 2015" – a sweeping bill to promote Medicare program integrity and efficiency. Among many other things, the bill would: eliminate civil money penalties for inducements to physicians to limit services that are not medically necessary; create a Part D drug management program for beneficiaries at risk of prescription drug abuse; require MACs to establish improper payment outreach and education programs for providers; expand the Senior Medicare Patrol program; require the HHS Secretary to issue guidance on the application of the "Common Rule" protecting individuals involved in research; and require the Secretary to issue a report on how to establish a permanent physician-hospital gainsharing program.
- H.R. 284, "Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Improvement Act of 2015" -- which would require Medicare suppliers that bid under a durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) competitive bidding program to submit binding bids or risk forfeiture of a surety bond.
- H.R. 876, "NOTICE Act" – which would require hospitals to provide certain notifications to individuals classified as being under observation status rather than admitted as inpatients.
- H.R. 887, "Electronic Health Fairness Act of 2015" -- which addresses the treatment of patient encounters in ambulatory surgical centers in determining meaningful electronic health record use.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.