Stakeholders Confident Senate Will Avoid Sequester Cuts

Provider groups aren’t too worried about the 2% Medicare payment cut that is scheduled to go back into effect on April 1st after being paused for the COVID-19 pandemic. The cuts originally went into effect in 2013 and were paused to protect providers like hospitals and doctor groups that are now confident that the cuts will continue to be held up.

The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) vice president Tom Nickels told reporters on a call Tuesday that the bipartisan bill brought by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) is very likely to pass, according to Fierce Healthcare.

Chip Kahn of the Federation of American Hospitals told Modern Healthcare that the concern from providers is dire, and was less sure that the bill would pass.

The House of Representatives is currently out of session for Easter recess, until April 13. In this case, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would likely read the room before calling claims at a higher rate. From AHA President Rick Pollack, via Fierce Healthcare:

If the Senate does act before [the moratorium expires] it sends a strong signal for CMS to hold those claims about a week or so until the House comes back and approves the Senate action.

The American Medical Association (AMA) published a press release last week stressing the importance of forming a bipartisan approach to pass the bill as quickly as possible. According to the AMA, Congress already recognized the devastating impact the sequester cuts would have on providers. From the AMA letter:

We strongly urge Congress to work in a bipartisan fashion to take immediate action to ensure not only that the policies contained in this bill are enacted into law, but also provide additional assistance to physicians as they attempt to care for patients while struggling to keep their practices operating.