Federal Government News

Update! The new fee would be applied to clinical laboratories (including hospital laboratory outpatient and outreach business but not inpatient business).  The aggregate fee on the sector would be $750 million. 

According to the Chairman’s Mark, “the aggregate fee would be apportioned among the covered entities (i.e. laboratories) each year based on each entity‘s relative market share of covered domestic laboratory service revenue for the prior year.” In determining each covered entity‘s relative market share, covered domestic laboratory service revenue will be taken into account as follows: zero percent of revenues up to $500,000 and 100 percent of revenues over $500,000. The fees assessed under the Chairman‘s Mark would not be deductible for U.S. income tax purposes.  According to the Chairman’s Mark, the clinical lab fee would be applied beginning in 2010.

The Chairman’s Mark also includes a productivity adjustment on Medicare Part B providers (including laboratories).  Beginning on page 155 of the document, the Mark details how the adjustment would be applied.  For laboratories, the annual update in any given year would equal the CPI minus the full productivity adjustment.  The forecast for the productivity adjustment over the next 10 years ranges from 1.1 to 1.4%.  According to the Chairman’s Mark, application of the productivity adjustment would begin in 2011.  This adjustment would be applied in perpetuity.

URGENT: Contact Your Representative and Urge Him/Her to Oppose Unfair Medicare Cuts to Skilled Nursing Facilities Proposed in the Tri-Committee Health Care Reform Bill

AHCA/NCAL is making an URGENT appeal to all advocates. We ask that you send a letter to your Representative and tell him/her to OPPOSE Medicare payment cuts for SNFs which have been proposed in the Tri-Committee health care reform bill.

A bill is currently being proposed to congress to reform the nation’s healthcare system.  This bill wants to cut more than $40 billion dollars toward Medicare payments for SNFs over the next decade. 

In addition to the proposed Medicare payment cuts in the draft bill, SNFs face $16 billion in regulatory cuts as proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by August 1st. When combined with the draft bill, the total impact is $52.9 billion over 10 years nationally - an average loss of more than two years' worth of Medicare revenue for every nursing home in America.

Cuts of this magnitude are simply unsustainable and put everyone - from the frail, elderly and disabled to those who care for them at serious risk.

Since 70% of nursing home costs are labor related, the Tri-Committee draft puts many jobs at risk; fifty-thousand jobs in the course of next year alone.

Use the link above to contact your Representative to oppose this bill and help to save healthcare jobs, medicare funds, and patients' lives.