Hospice’s 1996 agenda reintroduced in Congress
A package of hospice-supported regulatory adjustments called the Medicare Hospice Benefit Amendments of 1996, which nearly passed last year, has resurfaced in this year’s session of Congress with slight modifications.
HR 521 was introduced in early February by reps. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH), with a bipartisan group of 57 House co-sponsors, while Senate sponsors were still being sought, reports Kathy Gavett, Director of State and Government Relations for the National Hospice Organization in Arlington, VA.
This legislative package proposes to redefine hospice benefit periods, create rural waivers for certain required services, and clarify requirements for employing hospice medical directors and for physician certification of a patient’s terminal illness. One provision in last year’s bill that was deleted from this year’s would have restored the presumption for waiver of liability under Medicare reimbursement. That was the only provision deemed to carry a price tag by the government. Last year’s bill had appeared on its way to enactment until the day before Congress adjourned to hit the campaign trail, when all Medicare-related provisions were stripped out of the budget bill.
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