Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2009
Legislative Progress
Momentum (last 30 days)
0
score
0 actions · 0 new cosponsors · 0 votes
Speed vs cohort
91pct
104d open
vs 4,048 other S bills in the 111th — cohort avg 29d
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Filing registrants (4)
2010 · third_quarter · Medicare/Medicaid
HR 27 Medicare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish additional provisions to combat waste, fraud, and abuse within the Medicare Program, and for other purposes; HR 43 and S 46, Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare outpatient rehabilitation therapy caps; S 54 Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for patient protection by establishing minimum nurse staffing ratios at certain Medicare providers, and for other purposes; HR 319 Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States the option of coverage of legal immigrants under the Medicaid Program and the State children's health insurance program (SCHIP); S 214 Children's Health Equity Technical Amendments Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to permit qualifying States to use their allotments under the SCHIP for any fiscal year for certain Medicaid expenditures; HR 362 and S 318 Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to health care under the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 465 a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States to ensure coverage without a 5-year delay of certain children and pregnant women under the Medicaid program and SCHIP; HR 487, a bill to waive the 35-mile requirement for designation of a critical access hospital under the Medicare program; HR 592 and S 264 E-Centives Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to encourage the use of certified health information technology by providers in the Medicaid Program and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes; HR 619 a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to remove the exclusion from medical assistance under the Medicaid Program of items and services for patients in an institution for mental diseases; S 295 Medicare Quality and Payment Reform Act of 2009, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the quality and efficiency of the Medicare program through measurement of readmission rates and resource use and to develop a pilot program to provide episodic payments to organized groups of multispecialty and multilevel providers of services and suppliers for hospitalization episodes associated with select, high cost diagnoses; HR 668 and S 307 Critical Access Hospital Flexibility Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide flexibility in the manner in which beds are counted for purposes of determining whether a hospital may be designated as a critical access hospital under the Medicare program and to exempt from the critical access hospital inpatient bed limitation the number of beds provided for certain veterans; HR 902 and S. 382 MediFair Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the provision of items and services provided to Medicare beneficiaries residing in States with more cost-effective health care delivery systems; S 434 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid program, and for other purposes; S 438 Improved Medical Decision Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to provide for the voluntary development by States of qualifying best practices for health care and to encourage such voluntary development by amending titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide differential rates of payment favoring treatment provided consistent with qualifying best practices under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and for other purposes; HR 1117 Medically Fragile Children's Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to establish a State plan option under Medicaid to provide an all-inclusive program of care for children who are medically fragile or have one or more chronic conditions that impede their ability to function; HR 1188 and S 468 Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to emergency medical services and the quality and efficiency of care furnished in emergency departments of hospitals and critical access hospitals by establishing a bipartisan commission to examine factors that affect the effective delivery of such services, by providing for additional payments for certain physician services furnished in such emergency departments, and by establishing a CMS Working Group, and for other purposes; S 712 Rural Medicare Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 1776 Quality FIRST (From Incentives, Reporting, Standards, and Technology) Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the development of quality measures for inpatient hospital services, to implement a performance-based payment methodology for the provision of such services under the Medicare Program; Letter to CMS asking to eliminate the state-specific budget neutrality policy for the rural and imputed rural floor indices in the upcoming FY2010 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Rule (IPPS); Working on legislation to amend the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor Program; S 852 a bill to apply an alternative payment amount under the Medicare program for certain graduate medical education programs established to train residents displaced by natural disasters; HR 2068 Medicare Telehealth Enhancement Act of 2009, a bill to improve the provision of telehealth services under the Medicare Program; HR 2094 Physician Training Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase the per resident payment floor for direct graduate medical education payments under the Medicare Program; HR 2124 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and(d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, & SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2204 Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide payment under part A of the Medicare Program on a reasonable cost basis for anesthesia services furnished by an anesthesiologist in certain rural hospitals in the same manner as payments are provided for anesthesia services furnished by anesthesiologist assistants and certified registered nurse anesthetists in such hospitals; S 935 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and (d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2443 Medicare Ambulance Access Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to ambulance services under the Medicare Program; S 1079 Medicare Cost Contract Extension and Refinement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to extend reasonable cost contracts under the Medicare program; HR 2525 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; HR 2534 Physician Pathology Services Continuity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the treatment of certain physician pathology services under the Medicare Program; S 1108 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; S 1110 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1114 Medical Homes Act of 2009, a bill to establish a demonstration project to provide for patient-centered medical homes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in providing medical assistance under the Medicaid program and child health assistance under the State Children's Health Insurance Program; Letters and further discussions to CMS, Physician Supervision for Outpatient Service, resend policy changes requiring direct physician supervision for all PSO therapeutic Outpatient Service provided in and on hospital campus under Medicare, and withdraw change to minimize legal risk for years 2001-2009; HR 2688 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid Program; HR 2692 and S 1171CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State authority to waive the 35-mile rule for designating critical access hospitals under the Medicare Program; HR 2718 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1185 Medicare Financial Stability for Beneficiaries Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to health care under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S 1181 Healthy Living and Health Aging Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to provide for a demonstration project to examine whether community-level public health interventions can result in lower rates of chronic disease for individuals entering the Medicare program; HR 2753 a bill to delay the implementation of new Medicare hospital geographic wage reclassification criteria until the Secretary of Health and Human Services issues a proposal to revise the hospital wage index classification system that addresses certain considerations; HR 2758 Medicare Specialty Care Improvement and Protection Act of 2009, a bill to amend part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act with respect to Medicare special needs plans and the alignment of Medicare and Medicaid for dually eligible individuals; HR 2773 Medicare Transitional Care Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to cover transitional care services to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of care under the Medicare Program; S 1218 Urban Medicare-Dependent Hospitals Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to urban Medicare-dependent hospitals; HR 2784 Partnership to Improve Seniors Access to Medicare Act, a bill to establish a loan repayment program for qualifying physicians and nurse practitioners participating in the Medicare Program; HR 2805 Ensuring Continuous Medicaid Coverage for Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require 12-month continuous coverage for children under Medicaid; HR 2844 Medicare Payment Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a value indexing mechanism for the physician work component of the Medicare physician fee schedule; HR 2859 Strengthening Medicaid for America's Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for application of an enhanced Federal matching rate for children under the Medicaid Program if certain conditions are met; S 1262 Medical Efficiency and Delivery Improvement of Care Act (MEDIC) of 2009, a bill to amend title VII of the Public Health Service Act and titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide additional resources for primary care services, to create new payment models for services under Medicare, to expand provision of non-institutionally-based long-term services, and for other purposes; S 1263 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; HR 2919 Medicare Efficiency Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare physician incentive payments for efficient areas; HR 2921a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an annual review by the MedPAC on geographic access to services; S 1279 TARP Recipient Ownership Trust Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; HR 2959 Accountable Care Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish an accountable care organization pilot program to reduce the growth of expenditures and improve health outcomes under the Medicare Program; S 1300 Community and Rural Medical Residency Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify intent regarding the counting of residents in a nonhospital setting under the Medicare program; S 1380 MedPAC Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the MedPAC, making the commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; H.R. 3138 Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for transparency in the relationship between physicians and manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals, or medical supplies for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP; HR 3141 Strengthening the Health Care Safety Net Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for a DSH redistribution pool from unexpended Medicaid DSH allotments in order to increase Medicaid DSH allotments for low DSH States and to provide grants for health access networks serving the uninsured; H.R. 3152 Helping Seniors Choose their Medicare Drug Plan Act, a bill to amend titles XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to prescription drugs under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S. 1423 Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require coverage under the Medicaid Program for freestanding birth center services; S. 1427 Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2009, a bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and for other purposes; H.R. 3172 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; H.R. 3184 Medicare Independent Living Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to eliminate the in the home restriction for Medicare coverage of mobility devices for individuals with expected long-term needs; H.R. 3256 Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Extension Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; H.R. 3356 Medicare Beneficiary Freedom to Choose Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify the use of private contracts by Medicare beneficiaries for professional services and to allow individuals to choose to opt out of the Medicare part A benefits; H.R. 3361 Medicare Patient Safeguards Act of 2009, a bill to provide a process for public comment and Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee review of certain Medicare national coverage determinations, and for other purposes; HR 3369 and S.1521 Improve Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require provider payments under Medicare and Medicaid to be made through direct deposit or electronic funds transfer (EFT) at insured depository institutions; S.1522 Outpatient Mental Health Modernization Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to stabilize and modernize the provision of partial hospitalization services under the Medicare program; H.R. 3374 Medicare and Medicaid Access Project through Information Technology (MAP IT) Act, a bill to provide for a demonstration project relating to the impact of health information technology on chronic disease management under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; H.R. 3422 Medicare Support for Rural Hospitals Act, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make temporary improvements to the Medicare inpatient payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals; H.R. 3430 DSH Collaborative Care Network Pilot Program Act of 2009, a bill to establish a Medicare DSH pilot program under which participants shall establish collaborative care networks to reduce the use of emergency departments, inpatient and other expensive resources of hospitals and other providers and provide more comprehensive and coordinated care to low-income individuals, including those without health insurance coverage, and to establish a Collaborative Care Network Center; Neal Letter to Pelosi, Opposition to the Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC) and MedPAC Reform Act (HR 2718, S1110, S 1380); HR 3556 NO TITLE, a bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a self-referral disclosure protocol under the Medicare Program to enable health care providers of services and suppliers to disclose violations of section 1877 of the Social Security Act; S 1669 Equal Access to Medicare Options Act of 2009, a bill to provide all Medicare beneficiaries with the right to guaranteed issue of a Medicare supplemental policy; HR 3631 Medicare Premium Fairness Act, a bill to amend title XVIII to provide for the application of a consistent Medicare part B premium for all Medicare beneficiaries in a budget neutral manner for 2010; HR 3653 Medicare Card Security Act of 2009, a bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to prohibit the display of Social Security account numbers on Medicare cards; HR 3663 NO TITLE, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to delay the date on which the accreditation requirement under the Medicare Program applies to suppliers of durable medical equipment that are pharmacies; HR 3665 Ryan White Grantee Medicaid Payment Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for payment for Medicaid services furnished by Ryan White part C grantees under a cost-based prospective payment system; HR 3675 National Quality Cancer Care Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of cancer care to Medicare beneficiaries by establishing a national demonstration project; HR 2962 Integrity in Medicare Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exclude certain advanced diagnostic imaging services from the in-office ancillary services exception to the prohibition on physician self-referral; Meeting with CMS re implementation of new requirements for insurance providers to report payment responsibility for Medicare Secondary Payer program; HR 3693 Ensuring the Future Physician Workforce Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to modify Medicare physician reimbursement policies to ensure a future physician workforce; HR 3961, HR 4154, S 1600 and Reid amendment 3305 Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 and Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reform the Medicare SGR payment system for physicians and to reinstitute and update the Pay-As-You-Go requirement of budget neutrality on new tax and mandatory spending legislation, enforced by the threat of annual, automatic sequestration; HR 4250 Medicaid DSH Integrity Act, a bill to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to revise regulations implementing the statutory reporting and auditing requirements for the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital ("DSH") payment program to be consistent with the scope of the statutory provisions and avoid substantive changes to preexisting DSH policy; S 1776 Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the update under the Medicare physician fee schedule for years beginning with 2010 and to sunset the application of the sustainable growth rate formula, and for other purposes; discussion with the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of hospital concerns around development of requirements for meaningful use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for EHR development; S 3000 a bill to extend the increase in the FMAP provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for an additional 6 months; HR 4213 American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 a bill that includes an extension of the Recovery Acts increased Federal match for state Medicaid programs. The passed bill extends the increased FMAP through June 30, 2011, which is estimated to provide states with an additional $25.5 billion in FMAP; Letter to Pelosi and Reid expressing opposition to establishment of an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB); Medicaid FMAP ARRA Extension Letter to Senator Reid to include an extension of federal Medicaid assistance to states in legislative proposals to increase employment and rebuild the nations economy; Space, Burgess, Stearns and Engel House Health IT letter and Klobuchar and Hatch Senate Health IT letter to CMS urging a modification of CMS proposed definition of and requirements for hospitals to become qualified as meaningful users of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology; S 3028 Medicare Mental Health Inpatient Equity Act, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to eliminate the 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric hospital services under the Medicare program; HR 4872 The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 202 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2010; Meetings with CMS to urge a different interpretation of the Medicare conditions of participation interpretive guidelines, as currently interpreted guidelines would require accreditation of each hospital as a standalone entity and require them to each have a separate governing body, medical staff, etc. in order to be accredited by the joint commission; Crowley- Sessions Letter to CMS urging reevaluation of the IPPS regulation that would apply a 2.9 percent cut to hospital payments in FY 2011; Letter to CMS re development of the Self-referral disclosure protocol that is authorized by the PPACA; HR 5712 Veterans, Seniors, and Childrens Health Technical Corrections Act of 2010 to provide for certain clarifications and extensions under Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program; HR 6005 Ensuring Equality for Early EHR Adoption Act of 2010, to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for the temporary treatment of certain electronic health records as certified EHR technology for purposes of health information technology payment incentives under the Medicare and Medicaid Programs. Sen. Stabenow and Sen. Murkoswki, Rep. Crowley and Rep. Sessions letter to CMS asking to reevaluate the proposed IPPS regulations that will hit hospital payments in FY 2011; Pomeroy, Moran letter to CMS, regarding concersn of the proposed Medicare OPPS regulation for FY 2011 does not show continued access to full range of outpatient therapeutic services for small, rural & CAH hospitals.
Bills with similar content found using semantic analysis.
Sources: Congress.gov
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2010 · second_quarter · Medicare/Medicaid
HR 27 Medicare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish additional provisions to combat waste, fraud, and abuse within the Medicare Program, and for other purposes; HR 43 and S 46, Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare outpatient rehabilitation therapy caps; S 54 Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for patient protection by establishing minimum nurse staffing ratios at certain Medicare providers, and for other purposes; HR 319 Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States the option of coverage of legal immigrants under the Medicaid Program and the State children's health insurance program (SCHIP); S 214 Children's Health Equity Technical Amendments Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to permit qualifying States to use their allotments under the SCHIP for any fiscal year for certain Medicaid expenditures; HR 362 and S 318 Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to health care under the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 465 a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States to ensure coverage without a 5-year delay of certain children and pregnant women under the Medicaid program and SCHIP; HR 487, a bill to waive the 35-mile requirement for designation of a critical access hospital under the Medicare program; HR 592 and S 264 E-Centives Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to encourage the use of certified health information technology by providers in the Medicaid Program and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes; HR 619 a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to remove the exclusion from medical assistance under the Medicaid Program of items and services for patients in an institution for mental diseases; S 295 Medicare Quality and Payment Reform Act of 2009, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the quality and efficiency of the Medicare program through measurement of readmission rates and resource use and to develop a pilot program to provide episodic payments to organized groups of multispecialty and multilevel providers of services and suppliers for hospitalization episodes associated with select, high cost diagnoses; HR 668 and S 307 Critical Access Hospital Flexibility Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide flexibility in the manner in which beds are counted for purposes of determining whether a hospital may be designated as a critical access hospital under the Medicare program and to exempt from the critical access hospital inpatient bed limitation the number of beds provided for certain veterans; HR 902 and S. 382 MediFair Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the provision of items and services provided to Medicare beneficiaries residing in States with more cost-effective health care delivery systems; S 434 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid program, and for other purposes; S 438 Improved Medical Decision Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to provide for the voluntary development by States of qualifying best practices for health care and to encourage such voluntary development by amending titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide differential rates of payment favoring treatment provided consistent with qualifying best practices under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and for other purposes; HR 1117 Medically Fragile Children's Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to establish a State plan option under Medicaid to provide an all-inclusive program of care for children who are medically fragile or have one or more chronic conditions that impede their ability to function; HR 1188 and S 468 Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to emergency medical services and the quality and efficiency of care furnished in emergency departments of hospitals and critical access hospitals by establishing a bipartisan commission to examine factors that affect the effective delivery of such services, by providing for additional payments for certain physician services furnished in such emergency departments, and by establishing a CMS Working Group, and for other purposes; S 712 Rural Medicare Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 1776 Quality FIRST (From Incentives, Reporting, Standards, and Technology) Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the development of quality measures for inpatient hospital services, to implement a performance-based payment methodology for the provision of such services under the Medicare Program; Letter to CMS asking to eliminate the state-specific budget neutrality policy for the rural and imputed rural floor indices in the upcoming FY2010 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Rule (IPPS); Working on legislation to amend the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor Program; S 852 a bill to apply an alternative payment amount under the Medicare program for certain graduate medical education programs established to train residents displaced by natural disasters; HR 2068 Medicare Telehealth Enhancement Act of 2009, a bill to improve the provision of telehealth services under the Medicare Program; HR 2094 Physician Training Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase the per resident payment floor for direct graduate medical education payments under the Medicare Program; HR 2124 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and(d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, & SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2204 Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide payment under part A of the Medicare Program on a reasonable cost basis for anesthesia services furnished by an anesthesiologist in certain rural hospitals in the same manner as payments are provided for anesthesia services furnished by anesthesiologist assistants and certified registered nurse anesthetists in such hospitals; S 935 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and (d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2443 Medicare Ambulance Access Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to ambulance services under the Medicare Program; S 1079 Medicare Cost Contract Extension and Refinement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to extend reasonable cost contracts under the Medicare program; HR 2525 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; HR 2534 Physician Pathology Services Continuity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the treatment of certain physician pathology services under the Medicare Program; S 1108 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; S 1110 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1114 Medical Homes Act of 2009, a bill to establish a demonstration project to provide for patient-centered medical homes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in providing medical assistance under the Medicaid program and child health assistance under the State Children's Health Insurance Program; Letters and further discussions to CMS, Physician Supervision for Outpatient Service, resend policy changes requiring direct physician supervision for all PSO therapeutic Outpatient Service provided in and on hospital campus under Medicare, and withdraw change to minimize legal risk for years 2001-2009; HR 2688 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid Program; HR 2692 and S 1171CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State authority to waive the 35-mile rule for designating critical access hospitals under the Medicare Program; HR 2718 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1185 Medicare Financial Stability for Beneficiaries Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to health care under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S 1181 Healthy Living and Health Aging Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to provide for a demonstration project to examine whether community-level public health interventions can result in lower rates of chronic disease for individuals entering the Medicare program; HR 2753 a bill to delay the implementation of new Medicare hospital geographic wage reclassification criteria until the Secretary of Health and Human Services issues a proposal to revise the hospital wage index classification system that addresses certain considerations; HR 2758 Medicare Specialty Care Improvement and Protection Act of 2009, a bill to amend part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act with respect to Medicare special needs plans and the alignment of Medicare and Medicaid for dually eligible individuals; HR 2773 Medicare Transitional Care Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to cover transitional care services to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of care under the Medicare Program; S 1218 Urban Medicare-Dependent Hospitals Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to urban Medicare-dependent hospitals; HR 2784 Partnership to Improve Seniors Access to Medicare Act, a bill to establish a loan repayment program for qualifying physicians and nurse practitioners participating in the Medicare Program; HR 2805 Ensuring Continuous Medicaid Coverage for Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require 12-month continuous coverage for children under Medicaid; HR 2844 Medicare Payment Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a value indexing mechanism for the physician work component of the Medicare physician fee schedule; HR 2859 Strengthening Medicaid for America's Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for application of an enhanced Federal matching rate for children under the Medicaid Program if certain conditions are met; S 1262 Medical Efficiency and Delivery Improvement of Care Act (MEDIC) of 2009, a bill to amend title VII of the Public Health Service Act and titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide additional resources for primary care services, to create new payment models for services under Medicare, to expand provision of non-institutionally-based long-term services, and for other purposes; S 1263 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; HR 2919 Medicare Efficiency Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare physician incentive payments for efficient areas; HR 2921a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an annual review by the MedPAC on geographic access to services; S 1279 TARP Recipient Ownership Trust Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; HR 2959 Accountable Care Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish an accountable care organization pilot program to reduce the growth of expenditures and improve health outcomes under the Medicare Program; S 1300 Community and Rural Medical Residency Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify intent regarding the counting of residents in a nonhospital setting under the Medicare program; S 1380 MedPAC Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the MedPAC, making the commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; H.R. 3138 Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for transparency in the relationship between physicians and manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals, or medical supplies for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP; HR 3141 Strengthening the Health Care Safety Net Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for a DSH redistribution pool from unexpended Medicaid DSH allotments in order to increase Medicaid DSH allotments for low DSH States and to provide grants for health access networks serving the uninsured; H.R. 3152 Helping Seniors Choose their Medicare Drug Plan Act, a bill to amend titles XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to prescription drugs under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S. 1423 Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require coverage under the Medicaid Program for freestanding birth center services; S. 1427 Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2009, a bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and for other purposes; H.R. 3172 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; H.R. 3184 Medicare Independent Living Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to eliminate the in the home restriction for Medicare coverage of mobility devices for individuals with expected long-term needs; H.R. 3256 Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Extension Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; H.R. 3356 Medicare Beneficiary Freedom to Choose Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify the use of private contracts by Medicare beneficiaries for professional services and to allow individuals to choose to opt out of the Medicare part A benefits; H.R. 3361 Medicare Patient Safeguards Act of 2009, a bill to provide a process for public comment and Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee review of certain Medicare national coverage determinations, and for other purposes; HR 3369 and S.1521 Improve Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require provider payments under Medicare and Medicaid to be made through direct deposit or electronic funds transfer (EFT) at insured depository institutions; S.1522 Outpatient Mental Health Modernization Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to stabilize and modernize the provision of partial hospitalization services under the Medicare program; H.R. 3374 Medicare and Medicaid Access Project through Information Technology (MAP IT) Act, a bill to provide for a demonstration project relating to the impact of health information technology on chronic disease management under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; H.R. 3422 Medicare Support for Rural Hospitals Act, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make temporary improvements to the Medicare inpatient payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals; H.R. 3430 DSH Collaborative Care Network Pilot Program Act of 2009, a bill to establish a Medicare DSH pilot program under which participants shall establish collaborative care networks to reduce the use of emergency departments, inpatient and other expensive resources of hospitals and other providers and provide more comprehensive and coordinated care to low-income individuals, including those without health insurance coverage, and to establish a Collaborative Care Network Center; Neal Letter to Pelosi, Opposition to the Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC) and MedPAC Reform Act (HR 2718, S1110, S 1380); HR 3556 NO TITLE, a bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a self-referral disclosure protocol under the Medicare Program to enable health care providers of services and suppliers to disclose violations of section 1877 of the Social Security Act; S 1669 Equal Access to Medicare Options Act of 2009, a bill to provide all Medicare beneficiaries with the right to guaranteed issue of a Medicare supplemental policy; HR 3631 Medicare Premium Fairness Act, a bill to amend title XVIII to provide for the application of a consistent Medicare part B premium for all Medicare beneficiaries in a budget neutral manner for 2010; HR 3653 Medicare Card Security Act of 2009, a bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to prohibit the display of Social Security account numbers on Medicare cards; HR 3663 NO TITLE, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to delay the date on which the accreditation requirement under the Medicare Program applies to suppliers of durable medical equipment that are pharmacies; HR 3665 Ryan White Grantee Medicaid Payment Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for payment for Medicaid services furnished by Ryan White part C grantees under a cost-based prospective payment system; HR 3675 National Quality Cancer Care Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of cancer care to Medicare beneficiaries by establishing a national demonstration project; HR 2962 Integrity in Medicare Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exclude certain advanced diagnostic imaging services from the in-office ancillary services exception to the prohibition on physician self-referral; Meeting with CMS re implementation of new requirements for insurance providers to report payment responsibility for Medicare Secondary Payer program; HR 3693 Ensuring the Future Physician Workforce Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to modify Medicare physician reimbursement policies to ensure a future physician workforce; HR 3961, HR 4154, S 1600 and Reid amendment 3305 Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 and Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reform the Medicare SGR payment system for physicians and to reinstitute and update the Pay-As-You-Go requirement of budget neutrality on new tax and mandatory spending legislation, enforced by the threat of annual, automatic sequestration; HR 4250 Medicaid DSH Integrity Act, a bill to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to revise regulations implementing the statutory reporting and auditing requirements for the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital ("DSH") payment program to be consistent with the scope of the statutory provisions and avoid substantive changes to preexisting DSH policy; S 1776 Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the update under the Medicare physician fee schedule for years beginning with 2010 and to sunset the application of the sustainable growth rate formula, and for other purposes; discussion with the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of hospital concerns around development of requirements for meaningful use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for EHR development; S 3000 a bill to extend the increase in the FMAP provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for an additional 6 months; HR 4213 American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 a bill that includes an extension of the Recovery Acts increased Federal match for state Medicaid programs. The passed bill extends the increased FMAP through June 30, 2011, which is estimated to provide states with an additional $25.5 billion in FMAP; Letter to Pelosi and Reid expressing opposition to establishment of an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB); Medicaid FMAP ARRA Extension Letter to Senator Reid to include an extension of federal Medicaid assistance to states in legislative proposals to increase employment and rebuild the nations economy; Space, Burgess, Stearns and Engel House Health IT letter and Klobuchar and Hatch Senate Health IT letter to CMS urging a modification of CMS proposed definition of and requirements for hospitals to become qualified as meaningful users of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology; S 3028 Medicare Mental Health Inpatient Equity Act, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to eliminate the 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric hospital services under the Medicare program; HR 4872 The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 202 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2010; Meetings with CMS to urge a different interpretation of the Medicare conditions of participation interpretive guidelines, as currently interpreted guidelines would require accreditation of each hospital as a standalone entity and require them to each have a separate governing body, medical staff, etc. in order to be accredited by the joint commission; Crowley- Sessions Letter to CMS urging reevaluation of the IPPS regulation that would apply a 2.9 percent cut to hospital payments in FY 2011.
Client expense: $4,230,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Defense, Dept of (DOD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Justice, Dept of (DOJ), Office of Management & Budget (OMB), SENATE, White House Office
2010 · first_quarter · Medicare/Medicaid
HR 27 Medicare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish additional provisions to combat waste, fraud, and abuse within the Medicare Program, and for other purposes; HR 43 and S 46, Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare outpatient rehabilitation therapy caps; S 54 Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for patient protection by establishing minimum nurse staffing ratios at certain Medicare providers, and for other purposes; HR 319 Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States the option of coverage of legal immigrants under the Medicaid Program and the State children's health insurance program (SCHIP); S 214 Children's Health Equity Technical Amendments Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to permit qualifying States to use their allotments under the SCHIP for any fiscal year for certain Medicaid expenditures; HR 362 and S 318 Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to health care under the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 465 a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States to ensure coverage without a 5-year delay of certain children and pregnant women under the Medicaid program and SCHIP; HR 487, a bill to waive the 35-mile requirement for designation of a critical access hospital under the Medicare program; HR 592 and S 264 E-Centives Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to encourage the use of certified health information technology by providers in the Medicaid Program and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes; HR 619 a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to remove the exclusion from medical assistance under the Medicaid Program of items and services for patients in an institution for mental diseases; S 295 Medicare Quality and Payment Reform Act of 2009, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the quality and efficiency of the Medicare program through measurement of readmission rates and resource use and to develop a pilot program to provide episodic payments to organized groups of multispecialty and multilevel providers of services and suppliers for hospitalization episodes associated with select, high cost diagnoses; HR 668 and S 307 Critical Access Hospital Flexibility Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide flexibility in the manner in which beds are counted for purposes of determining whether a hospital may be designated as a critical access hospital under the Medicare program and to exempt from the critical access hospital inpatient bed limitation the number of beds provided for certain veterans; HR 902 and S. 382 MediFair Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the provision of items and services provided to Medicare beneficiaries residing in States with more cost-effective health care delivery systems; S 434 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid program, and for other purposes; S 438 Improved Medical Decision Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to provide for the voluntary development by States of qualifying best practices for health care and to encourage such voluntary development by amending titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide differential rates of payment favoring treatment provided consistent with qualifying best practices under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and for other purposes; HR 1117 Medically Fragile Children's Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to establish a State plan option under Medicaid to provide an all-inclusive program of care for children who are medically fragile or have one or more chronic conditions that impede their ability to function; HR 1188 and S 468 Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to emergency medical services and the quality and efficiency of care furnished in emergency departments of hospitals and critical access hospitals by establishing a bipartisan commission to examine factors that affect the effective delivery of such services, by providing for additional payments for certain physician services furnished in such emergency departments, and by establishing a CMS Working Group, and for other purposes; S 712 Rural Medicare Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 1776 Quality FIRST (From Incentives, Reporting, Standards, and Technology) Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the development of quality measures for inpatient hospital services, to implement a performance-based payment methodology for the provision of such services under the Medicare Program; Letter to CMS asking to eliminate the state-specific budget neutrality policy for the rural and imputed rural floor indices in the upcoming FY2010 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Rule (IPPS); Working on legislation to amend the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor Program; S 852 a bill to apply an alternative payment amount under the Medicare program for certain graduate medical education programs established to train residents displaced by natural disasters; HR 2068 Medicare Telehealth Enhancement Act of 2009, a bill to improve the provision of telehealth services under the Medicare Program; HR 2094 Physician Training Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase the per resident payment floor for direct graduate medical education payments under the Medicare Program; HR 2124 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and(d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, & SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2204 Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide payment under part A of the Medicare Program on a reasonable cost basis for anesthesia services furnished by an anesthesiologist in certain rural hospitals in the same manner as payments are provided for anesthesia services furnished by anesthesiologist assistants and certified registered nurse anesthetists in such hospitals; S 935 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and (d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2443 Medicare Ambulance Access Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to ambulance services under the Medicare Program; S 1079 Medicare Cost Contract Extension and Refinement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to extend reasonable cost contracts under the Medicare program; HR 2525 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; HR 2534 Physician Pathology Services Continuity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the treatment of certain physician pathology services under the Medicare Program; S 1108 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; S 1110 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1114 Medical Homes Act of 2009, a bill to establish a demonstration project to provide for patient-centered medical homes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in providing medical assistance under the Medicaid program and child health assistance under the State Children's Health Insurance Program; Letters and further discussions to CMS, Physician Supervision for Outpatient Service, resend policy changes requiring direct physician supervision for all PSO therapeutic Outpatient Service provided in and on hospital campus under Medicare, and withdraw change to minimize legal risk for years 2001-2009; HR 2688 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid Program; HR 2692 and S 1171CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State authority to waive the 35-mile rule for designating critical access hospitals under the Medicare Program; HR 2718 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1185 Medicare Financial Stability for Beneficiaries Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to health care under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S 1181 Healthy Living and Health Aging Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to provide for a demonstration project to examine whether community-level public health interventions can result in lower rates of chronic disease for individuals entering the Medicare program; HR 2753 a bill to delay the implementation of new Medicare hospital geographic wage reclassification criteria until the Secretary of Health and Human Services issues a proposal to revise the hospital wage index classification system that addresses certain considerations; HR 2758 Medicare Specialty Care Improvement and Protection Act of 2009, a bill to amend part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act with respect to Medicare special needs plans and the alignment of Medicare and Medicaid for dually eligible individuals; HR 2773 Medicare Transitional Care Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to cover transitional care services to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of care under the Medicare Program; S 1218 Urban Medicare-Dependent Hospitals Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to urban Medicare-dependent hospitals; HR 2784 Partnership to Improve Seniors Access to Medicare Act, a bill to establish a loan repayment program for qualifying physicians and nurse practitioners participating in the Medicare Program; HR 2805 Ensuring Continuous Medicaid Coverage for Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require 12-month continuous coverage for children under Medicaid; HR 2844 Medicare Payment Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a value indexing mechanism for the physician work component of the Medicare physician fee schedule; HR 2859 Strengthening Medicaid for America's Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for application of an enhanced Federal matching rate for children under the Medicaid Program if certain conditions are met; S 1262 Medical Efficiency and Delivery Improvement of Care Act (MEDIC) of 2009, a bill to amend title VII of the Public Health Service Act and titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide additional resources for primary care services, to create new payment models for services under Medicare, to expand provision of non-institutionally-based long-term services, and for other purposes; S 1263 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; HR 2919 Medicare Efficiency Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare physician incentive payments for efficient areas; HR 2921a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an annual review by the MedPAC on geographic access to services; S 1279 TARP Recipient Ownership Trust Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; HR 2959 Accountable Care Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish an accountable care organization pilot program to reduce the growth of expenditures and improve health outcomes under the Medicare Program; S 1300 Community and Rural Medical Residency Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify intent regarding the counting of residents in a nonhospital setting under the Medicare program; S 1380 MedPAC Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the MedPAC, making the commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; H.R. 3138 Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for transparency in the relationship between physicians and manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals, or medical supplies for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP; HR 3141 Strengthening the Health Care Safety Net Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for a DSH redistribution pool from unexpended Medicaid DSH allotments in order to increase Medicaid DSH allotments for low DSH States and to provide grants for health access networks serving the uninsured; H.R. 3152 Helping Seniors Choose their Medicare Drug Plan Act, a bill to amend titles XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to prescription drugs under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S. 1423 Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require coverage under the Medicaid Program for freestanding birth center services; S. 1427 Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2009, a bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and for other purposes; H.R. 3172 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; H.R. 3184 Medicare Independent Living Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to eliminate the in the home restriction for Medicare coverage of mobility devices for individuals with expected long-term needs; H.R. 3256 Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Extension Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; H.R. 3356 Medicare Beneficiary Freedom to Choose Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify the use of private contracts by Medicare beneficiaries for professional services and to allow individuals to choose to opt out of the Medicare part A benefits; H.R. 3361 Medicare Patient Safeguards Act of 2009, a bill to provide a process for public comment and Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee review of certain Medicare national coverage determinations, and for other purposes; HR 3369 and S.1521 Improve Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require provider payments under Medicare and Medicaid to be made through direct deposit or electronic funds transfer (EFT) at insured depository institutions; S.1522 Outpatient Mental Health Modernization Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to stabilize and modernize the provision of partial hospitalization services under the Medicare program; H.R. 3374 Medicare and Medicaid Access Project through Information Technology (MAP IT) Act, a bill to provide for a demonstration project relating to the impact of health information technology on chronic disease management under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; H.R. 3422 Medicare Support for Rural Hospitals Act, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make temporary improvements to the Medicare inpatient payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals; H.R. 3430 DSH Collaborative Care Network Pilot Program Act of 2009, a bill to establish a Medicare DSH pilot program under which participants shall establish collaborative care networks to reduce the use of emergency departments, inpatient and other expensive resources of hospitals and other providers and provide more comprehensive and coordinated care to low-income individuals, including those without health insurance coverage, and to establish a Collaborative Care Network Center; Neal Letter to Pelosi, Opposition to the Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC) and MedPAC Reform Act (HR 2718, S1110, S 1380); HR 3556 NO TITLE, a bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a self-referral disclosure protocol under the Medicare Program to enable health care providers of services and suppliers to disclose violations of section 1877 of the Social Security Act; S 1669 Equal Access to Medicare Options Act of 2009, a bill to provide all Medicare beneficiaries with the right to guaranteed issue of a Medicare supplemental policy; HR 3631 Medicare Premium Fairness Act, a bill to amend title XVIII to provide for the application of a consistent Medicare part B premium for all Medicare beneficiaries in a budget neutral manner for 2010; HR 3653 Medicare Card Security Act of 2009, a bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to prohibit the display of Social Security account numbers on Medicare cards; HR 3663 NO TITLE, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to delay the date on which the accreditation requirement under the Medicare Program applies to suppliers of durable medical equipment that are pharmacies; HR 3665 Ryan White Grantee Medicaid Payment Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for payment for Medicaid services furnished by Ryan White part C grantees under a cost-based prospective payment system; HR 3675 National Quality Cancer Care Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of cancer care to Medicare beneficiaries by establishing a national demonstration project; HR 2962 Integrity in Medicare Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exclude certain advanced diagnostic imaging services from the in-office ancillary services exception to the prohibition on physician self-referral; Meeting with CMS re implementation of new requirements for insurance providers to report payment responsibility for Medicare Secondary Payer program; HR 3693 Ensuring the Future Physician Workforce Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to modify Medicare physician reimbursement policies to ensure a future physician workforce; HR 3961, HR 4154, S 1600 and Reid amendment 3305 Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 and Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reform the Medicare SGR payment system for physicians and to reinstitute and update the Pay-As-You-Go requirement of budget neutrality on new tax and mandatory spending legislation, enforced by the threat of annual, automatic sequestration; HR 4250 Medicaid DSH Integrity Act, a bill to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to revise regulations implementing the statutory reporting and auditing requirements for the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital ("DSH") payment program to be consistent with the scope of the statutory provisions and avoid substantive changes to preexisting DSH policy; S 1776 Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the update under the Medicare physician fee schedule for years beginning with 2010 and to sunset the application of the sustainable growth rate formula, and for other purposes; discussion with the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of hospital concerns around development of requirements for meaningful use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for EHR development; S 3000 a bill to extend the increase in the FMAP provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for an additional 6 months; HR 4213 American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 a bill that includes an extension of the Recovery Acts increased Federal match for state Medicaid programs. The passed bill extends the increased FMAP through June 30, 2011, which is estimated to provide states with an additional $25.5 billion in FMAP; Letter to Pelosi and Reid expressing opposition to establishment of an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB); Medicaid FMAP ARRA Extension Letter to Senator Reid to include an extension of federal Medicaid assistance to states in legislative proposals to increase employment and rebuild the nations economy; Space, Burgess, Stearns and Engel House Health IT letter and Klobuchar and Hatch Senate Health IT letter to CMS urging a modification of CMS proposed definition of and requirements for hospitals to become qualified as meaningful users of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology; S 3028 Medicare Mental Health Inpatient Equity Act, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to eliminate the 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient psychiatric hospital services under the Medicare program; HR 4872 The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 202 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2010; Meetings with CMS to urge a different interpretation of the Medicare conditions of participation interpretive guidelines, as currently interpreted guidelines would require accreditation of each hospital as a standalone entity and require them to each have a separate governing body, medical staff, etc. in order to be accredited by the joint commission.
Client expense: $3,730,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Defense, Dept of (DOD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Justice, Dept of (DOJ), Office of Management & Budget (OMB), SENATE, White House Office
2009 · second_quarter · Pharmacy
H.R. 1548 & S. 1427 to amend title XIX of the Society Security Act to ensure that individuals eligible for medical assistance under the Medicaid Program continue to have access to prescription drugs, and for other purposes Average Manufacturers Price H.R. 616 & S. 511 to amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an exemption of pharmacies and pharmacists from certain Medicare accreditation requirements in the same manner as such exemption applies to certain professionals H.R. 1970 & S. 956 to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exempt unsanctioned State-licensed retail pharmacies from the surety bond requirement under the Medicare program for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS)
Client expense: $2,030,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Agriculture, Dept of (USDA), Commerce, Dept of (DOC), Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Energy, Dept of, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS), Natl Economic Council (NEC), Natl Security Council (NSC), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), SENATE, State, Dept of (DOS), Treasury, Dept of, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), White House Office
2009 · first_quarter · Pharmacy
H.R. 1548 & S. 1427, Legislation amending title XIX of the Society Security Act to ensure that individuals eligible for medical assistance under the Medicaid Program continue to have access to prescription drugs, and for other purposes Average Manufacturers Price
Client expense: $1,960,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Energy, Dept of, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS), Labor, Dept of (DOL), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), SENATE, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), White House Office
2009 · fourth_quarter · Medicare/Medicaid
HR 27 Medicare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish additional provisions to combat waste, fraud, and abuse within the Medicare Program, and for other purposes; HR 43 and S 46, Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare outpatient rehabilitation therapy caps; S 54 Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for patient protection by establishing minimum nurse staffing ratios at certain Medicare providers, and for other purposes; HR 319 Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States the option of coverage of legal immigrants under the Medicaid Program and the State children's health insurance program (SCHIP); S 214 Children's Health Equity Technical Amendments Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to permit qualifying States to use their allotments under the SCHIP for any fiscal year for certain Medicaid expenditures; HR 362 and S 318 Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to health care under the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 465 a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States to ensure coverage without a 5-year delay of certain children and pregnant women under the Medicaid program and SCHIP; HR 487, a bill to waive the 35-mile requirement for designation of a critical access hospital under the Medicare program; HR 592 and S 264 E-Centives Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to encourage the use of certified health information technology by providers in the Medicaid Program and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes; HR 619 a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to remove the exclusion from medical assistance under the Medicaid Program of items and services for patients in an institution for mental diseases; S 295 Medicare Quality and Payment Reform Act of 2009, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the quality and efficiency of the Medicare program through measurement of readmission rates and resource use and to develop a pilot program to provide episodic payments to organized groups of multispecialty and multilevel providers of services and suppliers for hospitalization episodes associated with select, high cost diagnoses; HR 668 and S 307 Critical Access Hospital Flexibility Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide flexibility in the manner in which beds are counted for purposes of determining whether a hospital may be designated as a critical access hospital under the Medicare program and to exempt from the critical access hospital inpatient bed limitation the number of beds provided for certain veterans; HR 902 and S. 382 MediFair Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the provision of items and services provided to Medicare beneficiaries residing in States with more cost-effective health care delivery systems; S 434 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid program, and for other purposes; S 438 Improved Medical Decision Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to provide for the voluntary development by States of qualifying best practices for health care and to encourage such voluntary development by amending titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide differential rates of payment favoring treatment provided consistent with qualifying best practices under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and for other purposes; HR 1117 Medically Fragile Children's Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to establish a State plan option under Medicaid to provide an all-inclusive program of care for children who are medically fragile or have one or more chronic conditions that impede their ability to function; HR 1188 and S 468 Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to emergency medical services and the quality and efficiency of care furnished in emergency departments of hospitals and critical access hospitals by establishing a bipartisan commission to examine factors that affect the effective delivery of such services, by providing for additional payments for certain physician services furnished in such emergency departments, and by establishing a CMS Working Group, and for other purposes; S 712 Rural Medicare Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 1776 Quality FIRST (From Incentives, Reporting, Standards, and Technology) Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the development of quality measures for inpatient hospital services, to implement a performance-based payment methodology for the provision of such services under the Medicare Program; Senator Schumer and Senator Roberts Letter eliminating IME Cuts CMS to withdraw the Capital IME cut that was included in last years Medicare IPPS rule; Letter to President Obama from Neal/ Tiberi on Capital IME Protect America's teaching hospitals asking him to withdraw a provision in the FY 2010 IPPS rule that would cut reimbursements to teaching hospitals. Letter to CMS asking to eliminate the state-specific budget neutrality policy for the rural and imputed rural floor indices in the upcoming FY2010 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Rule (IPPS); Working on legislation to amend the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor Program; S 852 a bill to apply an alternative payment amount under the Medicare program for certain graduate medical education programs established to train residents displaced by natural disasters; HR 2068 Medicare Telehealth Enhancement Act of 2009, a bill to improve the provision of telehealth services under the Medicare Program; HR 2094 Physician Training Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase the per resident payment floor for direct graduate medical education payments under the Medicare Program; HR 2124 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and(d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, & SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2204 Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide payment under part A of the Medicare Program on a reasonable cost basis for anesthesia services furnished by an anesthesiologist in certain rural hospitals in the same manner as payments are provided for anesthesia services furnished by anesthesiologist assistants and certified registered nurse anesthetists in such hospitals; S 935 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and (d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2443 Medicare Ambulance Access Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to ambulance services under the Medicare Program; S 1079 Medicare Cost Contract Extension and Refinement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to extend reasonable cost contracts under the Medicare program; HR 2525 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; HR 2534 Physician Pathology Services Continuity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the treatment of certain physician pathology services under the Medicare Program; S 1108 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; S 1110 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1114 Medical Homes Act of 2009, a bill to establish a demonstration project to provide for patient-centered medical homes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in providing medical assistance under the Medicaid program and child health assistance under the State Children's Health Insurance Program; Letters and further discussions to CMS, Physician Supervision for Outpatient Service, resend policy changes requiring direct physician supervision for all PSO therapeutic Outpatient Service provided in and on hospital campus under Medicare, and withdraw change to minimize legal risk for years 2001-2009; HR 2688 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid Program; HR 2692 and S 1171CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State authority to waive the 35-mile rule for designating critical access hospitals under the Medicare Program; HR 2718 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1185 Medicare Financial Stability for Beneficiaries Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to health care under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S 1181 Healthy Living and Health Aging Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to provide for a demonstration project to examine whether community-level public health interventions can result in lower rates of chronic disease for individuals entering the Medicare program; HR 2753 a bill to delay the implementation of new Medicare hospital geographic wage reclassification criteria until the Secretary of Health and Human Services issues a proposal to revise the hospital wage index classification system that addresses certain considerations; HR 2758 Medicare Specialty Care Improvement and Protection Act of 2009, a bill to amend part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act with respect to Medicare special needs plans and the alignment of Medicare and Medicaid for dually eligible individuals; HR 2773 Medicare Transitional Care Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to cover transitional care services to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of care under the Medicare Program; S 1218 Urban Medicare-Dependent Hospitals Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to urban Medicare-dependent hospitals; HR 2784 Partnership to Improve Seniors Access to Medicare Act, a bill to establish a loan repayment program for qualifying physicians and nurse practitioners participating in the Medicare Program; HR 2805 Ensuring Continuous Medicaid Coverage for Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require 12-month continuous coverage for children under Medicaid; HR 2844 Medicare Payment Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a value indexing mechanism for the physician work component of the Medicare physician fee schedule; HR 2859 Strengthening Medicaid for America's Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for application of an enhanced Federal matching rate for children under the Medicaid Program if certain conditions are met; S 1262 Medical Efficiency and Delivery Improvement of Care Act (MEDIC) of 2009, a bill to amend title VII of the Public Health Service Act and titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide additional resources for primary care services, to create new payment models for services under Medicare, to expand provision of non-institutionally-based long-term services, and for other purposes; S 1263 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; HR 2919 Medicare Efficiency Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare physician incentive payments for efficient areas; HR 2921a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an annual review by the MedPAC on geographic access to services; S 1279 TARP Recipient Ownership Trust Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; HR 2959 Accountable Care Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish an accountable care organization pilot program to reduce the growth of expenditures and improve health outcomes under the Medicare Program; S 1300 Community and Rural Medical Residency Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify intent regarding the counting of residents in a nonhospital setting under the Medicare program; S 1380 MedPAC Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the MedPAC, making the commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; H.R. 3138 Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for transparency in the relationship between physicians and manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals, or medical supplies for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP; HR 3141 Strengthening the Health Care Safety Net Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for a DSH redistribution pool from unexpended Medicaid DSH allotments in order to increase Medicaid DSH allotments for low DSH States and to provide grants for health access networks serving the uninsured; H.R. 3152 Helping Seniors Choose their Medicare Drug Plan Act, a bill to amend titles XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to prescription drugs under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S. 1423 Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require coverage under the Medicaid Program for freestanding birth center services; S. 1427 Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2009, a bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and for other purposes; H.R. 3172 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; H.R. 3184 Medicare Independent Living Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to eliminate the in the home restriction for Medicare coverage of mobility devices for individuals with expected long-term needs; H.R. 3256 Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Extension Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; H.R. 3356 Medicare Beneficiary Freedom to Choose Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify the use of private contracts by Medicare beneficiaries for professional services and to allow individuals to choose to opt out of the Medicare part A benefits; H.R. 3361 Medicare Patient Safeguards Act of 2009, a bill to provide a process for public comment and Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee review of certain Medicare national coverage determinations, and for other purposes; HR 3369 and S.1521 Improve Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require provider payments under Medicare and Medicaid to be made through direct deposit or electronic funds transfer (EFT) at insured depository institutions; S.1522 Outpatient Mental Health Modernization Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to stabilize and modernize the provision of partial hospitalization services under the Medicare program; H.R. 3374 Medicare and Medicaid Access Project through Information Technology (MAP IT) Act, a bill to provide for a demonstration project relating to the impact of health information technology on chronic disease management under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; H.R. 3422 Medicare Support for Rural Hospitals Act, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make temporary improvements to the Medicare inpatient payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals; H.R. 3430 DSH Collaborative Care Network Pilot Program Act of 2009, a bill to establish a Medicare DSH pilot program under which participants shall establish collaborative care networks to reduce the use of emergency departments, inpatient and other expensive resources of hospitals and other providers and provide more comprehensive and coordinated care to low-income individuals, including those without health insurance coverage, and to establish a Collaborative Care Network Center; Neal Letter to Pelosi, Opposition to the Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC) and MedPAC Reform Act (HR 2718, S1110, S 1380); HR 3556 NO TITLE, a bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a self-referral disclosure protocol under the Medicare Program to enable health care providers of services and suppliers to disclose violations of section 1877 of the Social Security Act; S 1669 Equal Access to Medicare Options Act of 2009, a bill to provide all Medicare beneficiaries with the right to guaranteed issue of a Medicare supplemental policy; HR 3631 Medicare Premium Fairness Act, a bill to amend title XVIII to provide for the application of a consistent Medicare part B premium for all Medicare beneficiaries in a budget neutral manner for 2010; HR 3653 Medicare Card Security Act of 2009, a bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to prohibit the display of Social Security account numbers on Medicare cards; HR 3663 NO TITLE, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to delay the date on which the accreditation requirement under the Medicare Program applies to suppliers of durable medical equipment that are pharmacies; HR 3665 Ryan White Grantee Medicaid Payment Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for payment for Medicaid services furnished by Ryan White part C grantees under a cost-based prospective payment system; HR 3675 National Quality Cancer Care Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of cancer care to Medicare beneficiaries by establishing a national demonstration project; HR 2962 Integrity in Medicare Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exclude certain advanced diagnostic imaging services from the in-office ancillary services exception to the prohibition on physician self-referral; Meeting with CMS re implementation of new requirements for insurance providers to report payment responsibility for Medicare Secondary Payer program; HR 3693 Ensuring the Future Physician Workforce Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to modify Medicare physician reimbursement policies to ensure a future physician workforce; HR 3961Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reform the Medicare SGR payment system for physicians and to reinstitute and update the Pay-As-You-Go requirement of budget neutrality on new tax and mandatory spending legislation, enforced by the threat of annual, automatic sequestration; HR 4250 Medicaid DSH Integrity Act, a bill to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to revise regulations implementing the statutory reporting and auditing requirements for the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital ("DSH") payment program to be consistent with the scope of the statutory provisions and avoid substantive changes to preexisting DSH policy; S 1776 Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the update under the Medicare physician fee schedule for years beginning with 2010 and to sunset the application of the sustainable growth rate formula, and for other purposes; discussion with the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of hospital concerns around development of requirements for meaningful use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for EHR development.
2009 · fourth_quarter · Veterans
PL 111-81: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 -- Beginning with FY2011 requires a two-fiscal-year discretionary new budget authority for the following accounts of the VA: (1) Medical Services; (2) Medical Support and Compliance; and (3) Medical Facilities Requires the Comptroller General to conduct a study on the adequacy and accuracy of VA baseline model projections for health care expenditures PL 111-82: Authorizes major medical facility leases for the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2010, and for other purposes PL 111-97: Military Spouses Residency Relief Act -- Amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to prohibit, for purposes of voting for a federal, state, or local office, deeming a person to have lost a residence or domicile in a state, acquired a residence or domicile in any other state, or become a resident in or of any other state solely because the person is absent from a state because the person is accompanying the persons spouse who is absent from the state in compliance with military or naval orders Prohibits a service members spouse from either losing or acquiring a residence or domicile for purposes of taxation because of being absent or present in any US tax jurisdiction solely to be with the service member in compliance with the service members military orders if the residence or domicile is the same for the service member and the spouse Prohibits a spouses income from being considered income earned in a tax jurisdiction if the spouse is not a resident or domiciliary of such jurisdiction when the spouse is in that jurisdiction solely to be with a service member serving under military orders PL 111-98: A bill to authorize a major medical facility project at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Walla Walla, Washington, and for other purposes PL 111-117: Consolidated Appropriations Act, FY 2010 -- Makes appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010 HR 23 / S 663: Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act of 2009 -- Establishes in the Treasury the Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund for payments by the VA Secretary of a monthly benefit of $1,000 to each individual who, between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946, was a documented member of the US merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) serving as a crewmember of a vessel that was operated in US waters by the War Shipping Administration or the Office of Defense Transportation and under contract to, or the property of, the United States Requires such individuals to: (1) apply for such benefit before October 1, 2009; and (2) not have received benefits under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 HR 174 / S 691: Legislation directing the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery for veterans in southern Colorado region, and for other purposes -- Directs the VA Secretary to establish a national cemetery in El Paso County, Colorado HR 1017 / S 1204: Chiropractic Care Available to All Veterans Act -- Amend the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001 and title 38, USC, to require the provision of chiropractic care and services to veterans at all Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers and to expand access to such care and services HR 1302 / S 1155: Amend title 38, USC, to establish the position of Director of Physician Assistant Services within the office of the Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health HR 953: Veterans Travel Tax Relief Act --Help veterans afford medical treatment and ensure proper compensation without complicated programs. HR 1036: Veterans Physical Therapy Services Improvement Act of 2009 -- Would amend title 38, USC, to establish the position of Director of Physical Therapy Service within the Veterans Health Administration and to establish a fellowship program for physical therapists in the areas of geriatrics, amputee rehabilitation, polytrauma care, and rehabilitation research HR 1211: Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act -- Would amend title 38, USC, to expand and improve health care services available to women veterans, especially those serving in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes HR 1335: Amend title 38, USC, to prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from collecting certain copayments from veterans who are catastrophically disabled -- Prohibits the collection by the VA of copayments or other fees for hospital or nursing home care in the case of catastrophically disabled veterans HR 1546: Caring for Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury Act of 2009 -- Directs the VA Secretary to establish within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) the Committee on Care of Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury to continually assess VHA capability to meet the treatment and rehabilitation needs of veterans with traumatic brain injury HR 2504: Would amend title 38, USC, to provide for an increase in the annual amount authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out comprehensive service programs for homeless veterans HR 2990: Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act -- Provides special pays and allowances to certain members of the Armed Forces, expand concurrent receipt of military retirement and VA disability benefits to disabled military retirees, and for other purposes HR 3082: FY 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending bill -- Support amendment to increase funds by $1 million to the Medical Services account at the Department of Veterans Affairs with an offset to the General Operating Expenses account in order to offer educational debt forgiveness for mental health professionals who agree to employment with the Department of Veterans Affairs. HR 3441: To provide for automatic enrollment of veterans returning from combat zones into the VA medical system, and for other purposes HR 3949: Veterans' Small Business Assistance and Servicemembers Protection Act of 2009 -- Amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to improve the equitable relief available for servicemembers called to active duty, and for other purposes HR 3961: Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 -- Amend title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to revise the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment system for determining the annual updates to the Medicare physician fee schedule. S 546: Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2009 -- Allows the receipt of both military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation with respect to any service-connected disability (under current law, only a disability rated at 50% or more) Makes eligible for the full concurrent receipt of both veterans' disability compensation and either military retired pay or combat-related special pay those individuals who were retired or separated from military service due to a service-connected disability S 669: Veterans Second Amendment Protection Ac t -- Clarify that Department of Veterans Affairs determinations of mental incompetency should not constitute adjudication as a mental defective with regard to that veterans inclusion in the National Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which governs who can legally purchase firearms. S 977: Prisoner of War Benefits Act of 2009 -- Amend title 38, USC, to provide improved benefits for veterans who are former prisoners of war, and for other purposes S 1109: Providing Real Outreach for Veterans Act of 2009 -- A bill to provide veterans with individualized notice about available benefits, to streamline application processes or the benefits, and for other purposes S 1118: Amend title 38, USC, to provide for an increase in the amount of monthly dependency and indemnity compensation payable to surviving spouses by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs , and for other purposes S 1302: Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2009 -- Provide for the introduction of pay-for-performance compensation mechanisms into contracts of the Department of Veterans Affairs with community-based outpatient clinics for the provisions of health care services, and for other purposes S 1427: Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2009 -- Amend title 38, USC, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and for other purposes S 1444: Compensation Owed for Mental Health Based on Activities in Theater Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Act -- Amend title 38, USC, to clarify the meaning of "combat with the enemy" for purposes of service-connection of disabilities S 1467: Lance Corporal Josef Lopez Fairness for Servicemembers Harmed by Vaccines Act of 2009 -- Amend title 38, USC, to provide coverage under Traumatic Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance for adverse reactions to vaccinations administered by the Department of Defense, and for other purposes S 1483: Designate the Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Alexandria, Minnesota as the "Max J. Beilke Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic" S 1518: Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2009 -- A bill to amend title 38, USC, to furnish hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care to veterans who were stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, while the water was contaminated at Camp Lejeune S 1531: Department of Veterans Affairs Reorganization Act of 2009 -- A bill to amend title 38, USC, to establish within the Department of Veterans Affairs the position of Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction, and for other purposes
2009 · third_quarter · Medicare/Medicaid
HR 27 Medicare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish additional provisions to combat waste, fraud, and abuse within the Medicare Program, and for other purposes; HR 43 and S 46, Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare outpatient rehabilitation therapy caps; S 54 Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for patient protection by establishing minimum nurse staffing ratios at certain Medicare providers, and for other purposes; HR 319 Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States the option of coverage of legal immigrants under the Medicaid Program and the State children's health insurance program (SCHIP); S 214 Children's Health Equity Technical Amendments Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to permit qualifying States to use their allotments under the State Children's Health Insurance Program for any fiscal year for certain Medicaid expenditures; HR 362 and S 318 Medicare Rural Health Access Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to health care under the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 465 a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States to ensure coverage without a 5-year delay of certain children and pregnant women under the Medicaid program and SCHIP; HR 487, a bill to waive the 35-mile requirement for designation of a critical access hospital under the Medicare program; HR 592 and S 264 E-Centives Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to encourage the use of certified health information technology by providers in the Medicaid Program and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes; HR 619 a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to remove the exclusion from medical assistance under the Medicaid Program of items and services for patients in an institution for mental diseases; S 295 Medicare Quality and Payment Reform Act of 2009, to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the quality and efficiency of the Medicare program through measurement of readmission rates and resource use and to develop a pilot program to provide episodic payments to organized groups of multispecialty and multilevel providers of services and suppliers for hospitalization episodes associated with select, high cost diagnoses; HR 668 and S 307 Critical Access Hospital Flexibility Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide flexibility in the manner in which beds are counted for purposes of determining whether a hospital may be designated as a critical access hospital under the Medicare program and to exempt from the critical access hospital inpatient bed limitation the number of beds provided for certain veterans; HR 902 and S. 382 MediFair Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the provision of items and services provided to Medicare beneficiaries residing in States with more cost-effective health care delivery systems; S 434 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid program, and for other purposes; S 438 Improved Medical Decision Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to provide for the voluntary development by States of qualifying best practices for health care and to encourage such voluntary development by amending titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide differential rates of payment favoring treatment provided consistent with qualifying best practices under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and for other purposes; HR 1117 Medically Fragile Children's Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to establish a State plan option under Medicaid to provide an all-inclusive program of care for children who are medically fragile or have one or more chronic conditions that impede their ability to function; HR 1188 and S 468 Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to emergency medical services and the quality and efficiency of care furnished in emergency departments of hospitals and critical access hospitals by establishing a bipartisan commission to examine factors that affect the effective delivery of such services, by providing for additional payments for certain physician services furnished in such emergency departments, and by establishing a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Working Group, and for other purposes; S 712 Rural Medicare Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the Medicare program for beneficiaries residing in rural areas; HR 1776 Quality FIRST (From Incentives, Reporting, Standards, and Technology) Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand the development of quality measures for inpatient hospital services, to implement a performance-based payment methodology for the provision of such services under the Medicare Program; Senator Schumer and Senator Roberts Letter eliminating IME Cuts CMS to withdraw the Capital IME cut that was included in last years Medicare IPPS rule; Letter to President Obama from Neal/ Tiberi on Capital IME PROTECT AMERICAS TEACHING HOSPITALS, asking him to withdraw a provision in the FY 2010 IPPS rule that would cut reimbursements to teaching hospitals. Letter to CMS asking to eliminate the state-specific budget neutrality policy for the rural and imputed rural floor indices in the upcoming FY2010 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Rule (IPPS); Working on legislation to amend the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor Program; S 852 a bill to apply an alternative payment amount under the Medicare program for certain graduate medical education programs established to train residents displaced by natural disasters; HR 2068 Medicare Telehealth Enhancement Act of 2009, a bill to improve the provision of telehealth services under the Medicare Program; HR 2094 Physician Training Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to increase the per resident payment floor for direct graduate medical education payments under the Medicare Program; HR 2124 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and (d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, & SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2204 Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide payment under part A of the Medicare Program on a reasonable cost basis for anesthesia services furnished by an anesthesiologist in certain rural hospitals in the same manner as payments are provided for anesthesia services furnished by anesthesiologist assistants and certified registered nurse anesthetists in such hospitals; S 935 Medicare Long-Term Care Hospital Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to extend subsections (c) and (d) of section 114 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-173) to provide for regulatory stability during the development of facility and patient criteria for long-term care hospitals under the Medicare program; HR 2443 Medicare Ambulance Access Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to ambulance services under the Medicare Program; S 1079 Medicare Cost Contract Extension and Refinement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to extend reasonable cost contracts under the Medicare program; HR 2525 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; HR 2534 Physician Pathology Services Continuity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the treatment of certain physician pathology services under the Medicare Program; S 1108 Safeguarding Our Hospitals' Futures Act of 2009, a bill to require application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor for each all-urban and rural State; S 1110 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1114 Medical Homes Act of 2009, a bill to establish a demonstration project to provide for patient-centered medical homes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in providing medical assistance under the Medicaid program and child health assistance under the State Children's Health Insurance Program; Letters and further discussions to CMS, Physician Supervision for Outpatient Service, resend policy changes requiring direct physician supervision for all PSO therapeutic Outpatient Service provided in and on hospital campus under Medicare, and withdraw change to minimize legal risk for years 2001-2009; HR 2688 Empowered at Home Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to improve the State plan amendment option for providing home and community-based services under the Medicaid Program; HR 2692 and S 1171CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State authority to waive the 35-mile rule for designating critical access hospitals under the Medicare Program; HR 2718 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, making the Commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; S 1185 Medicare Financial Stability for Beneficiaries Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to health care under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S 1181 Healthy Living and Health Aging Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to provide for a demonstration project to examine whether community-level public health interventions can result in lower rates of chronic disease for individuals entering the Medicare program; HR 2753 a bill to delay the implementation of new Medicare hospital geographic wage reclassification criteria until the Secretary of Health and Human Services issues a proposal to revise the hospital wage index classification system that addresses certain considerations; HR 2758 Medicare Specialty Care Improvement and Protection Act of 2009, a bill to amend part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act with respect to Medicare special needs plans and the alignment of Medicare and Medicaid for dually eligible individuals; HR 2773 Medicare Transitional Care Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to cover transitional care services to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of care under the Medicare Program; S 1218 Urban Medicare-Dependent Hospitals Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to urban Medicare-dependent hospitals; HR 2784 Partnership to Improve Seniors Access to Medicare Act, a bill to establish a loan repayment program for qualifying physicians and nurse practitioners participating in the Medicare Program; HR 2805 Ensuring Continuous Medicaid Coverage for Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require 12-month continuous coverage for children under Medicaid; HR 2844 Medicare Payment Improvement Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a value indexing mechanism for the physician work component of the Medicare physician fee schedule; HR 2859 Strengthening Medicaid for America's Children Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for application of an enhanced Federal matching rate for children under the Medicaid Program if certain conditions are met; S 1262 Medical Efficiency and Delivery Improvement of Care Act (MEDIC) of 2009, a bill to amend title VII of the Public Health Service Act and titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide additional resources for primary care services, to create new payment models for services under Medicare, to expand provision of non-institutionally-based long-term services, and for other purposes; S 1263 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; HR 2919 Medicare Efficiency Incentive Act of 2009, a bill to amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare physician incentive payments for efficient areas; HR 2921a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an annual review by the MedPAC on geographic access to services; S 1279 TARP Recipient Ownership Trust Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; HR 2959 Accountable Care Promotion Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish an accountable care organization pilot program to reduce the growth of expenditures and improve health outcomes under the Medicare Program; S 1300 Community and Rural Medical Residency Preservation Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify intent regarding the counting of residents in a nonhospital setting under the Medicare program; S 1380 MedPAC Reform Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a sensible infrastructure for delivery system reform by renaming the MedPAC, making the commission an executive branch agency, and providing the Commission new resources and authority to implement Medicare payment policy; H.R. 3138 Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for transparency in the relationship between physicians and manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals, or medical supplies for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP; HR 3141 Strengthening the Health Care Safety Net Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for a DSH redistribution pool from unexpended Medicaid DSH allotments in order to increase Medicaid DSH allotments for low DSH States and to provide grants for health access networks serving the uninsured; H.R. 3152 Helping Seniors Choose their Medicare Drug Plan Act, a bill to amend titles XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure that low-income beneficiaries have improved access to prescription drugs under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; S. 1423 Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require coverage under the Medicaid Program for freestanding birth center services; S. 1427 Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2009, a bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and for other purposes; H.R. 3172 Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for advanced illness care management services for Medicare beneficiaries, and for other purposes; H.R. 3184 Medicare Independent Living Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to eliminate the in the home restriction for Medicare coverage of mobility devices for individuals with expected long-term needs; H.R. 3256 Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Extension Act of 2009, a bill to amend the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program; H.R. 3356 Medicare Beneficiary Freedom to Choose Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to clarify the use of private contracts by Medicare beneficiaries for professional services and to allow individuals to choose to opt out of the Medicare part A benefits; H.R. 3361 Medicare Patient Safeguards Act of 2009, a bill to provide a process for public comment and Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee review of certain Medicare national coverage determinations, and for other purposes; HR 3369 and S.1521 Improve Act of 2009, a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require provider payments under Medicare and Medicaid to be made through direct deposit or electronic funds transfer (EFT) at insured depository institutions; S.1522 Outpatient Mental Health Modernization Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to stabilize and modernize the provision of partial hospitalization services under the Medicare program; H.R. 3374 Medicare and Medicaid Access Project through Information Technology (MAP IT) Act, a bill to provide for a demonstration project relating to the impact of health information technology on chronic disease management under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; H.R. 3422 Medicare Support for Rural Hospitals Act, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to make temporary improvements to the Medicare inpatient payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals; H.R. 3430 DSH Collaborative Care Network Pilot Program Act of 2009, a bill to establish a Medicare DSH pilot program under which participants shall establish collaborative care networks to reduce the use of emergency departments, inpatient and other expensive resources of hospitals and other providers and provide more comprehensive and coordinated care to low-income individuals, including those without health insurance coverage, and to establish a Collaborative Care Network Center; Neal Letter to Pelosi, Opposition to the Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC) and MedPAC Reform Act (HR 2718, S1110, S 1380); HR 3556 NO TITLE, a bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a self-referral disclosure protocol under the Medicare Program to enable health care providers of services and suppliers to disclose violations of section 1877 of the Social Security Act; S 1669 Equal Access to Medicare Options Act of 2009, a bill to provide all Medicare beneficiaries with the right to guaranteed issue of a Medicare supplemental policy; HR 3631 Medicare Premium Fairness Act, a bill to amend title XVIII to provide for the application of a consistent Medicare part B premium for all Medicare beneficiaries in a budget neutral manner for 2010; HR 3653 Medicare Card Security Act of 2009, a bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to prohibit the display of Social Security account numbers on Medicare cards; HR 3663 NO TITLE, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to delay the date on which the accreditation requirement under the Medicare Program applies to suppliers of durable medical equipment that are pharmacies; HR 3665 Ryan White Grantee Medicaid Payment Equity Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for payment for Medicaid services furnished by Ryan White part C grantees under a cost-based prospective payment system; HR 3675 National Quality Cancer Care Demonstration Project Act of 2009, a bill to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of cancer care to Medicare beneficiaries by establishing a national demonstration project; HR 2962 Integrity in Medicare Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Act of 2009, a bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exclude certain advanced diagnostic imaging services from the in-office ancillary services exception to the prohibition on physician self-referral.
2009 · third_quarter · Pharmacy
H.R. 1548 & S. 1427 - to amend title XIX of the Society Security Act to ensure that individuals eligible for medical assistance under the Medicaid Program continue to have access to prescription drugs, and for other purposes - Average Manufacturer's Price H.R. 616 & S. 511 - to amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an exemption of pharmacies and pharmacists from certain Medicare accreditation requirements in the same manner as such exemption applies to certain professionals H.R. 1970 & S. 956 - to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exempt unsanctioned State-licensed retail pharmacists from the surety bond requirement under the Medicare program for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS)
Client expense: $1,620,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Agriculture, Dept of (USDA), Commerce, Dept of (DOC), Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), Energy, Dept of, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS), Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS), Justice, Dept of (DOJ), Natl Security Council (NSC), Office of Management & Budget (OMB), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), SENATE, State, Dept of (DOS), Treasury, Dept of, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), White House Office
2009 · second_quarter · Pharmacy
H.R. 1548 & S. 1427 to amend title XIX of the Society Security Act to ensure that individuals eligible for medical assistance under the Medicaid Program continue to have access to prescription drugs, and for other purposes Average Manufacturers Price H.R. 616 & S. 511 to amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an exemption of pharmacies and pharmacists from certain Medicare accreditation requirements in the same manner as such exemption applies to certain professionals H.R. 1970 & S. 956 to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exempt unsanctioned State-licensed retail pharmacies from the surety bond requirement under the Medicare program for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS)
Client expense: $2,580,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Agriculture, Dept of (USDA), Commerce, Dept of (DOC), Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Energy, Dept of, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS), Natl Economic Council (NEC), Natl Security Council (NSC), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), SENATE, State, Dept of (DOS), Treasury, Dept of, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), White House Office
2009 · first_quarter · Pharmacy
H.R. 1548 & S. 1427, Legislation amending title XIX of the Society Security Act to ensure that individuals eligible for medical assistance under the Medicaid Program continue to have access to prescription drugs, and for other purposes Average Manufacturers Price
Client expense: $1,600,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Energy, Dept of, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS), Labor, Dept of (DOL), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), SENATE, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), White House Office
2009 · first_quarter · Pharmacy
H.R. 1548 & S. 1427, Legislation amending title XIX of the Society Security Act to ensure that individuals eligible for medical assistance under the Medicaid Program continue to have access to prescription drugs, and for other purposes Average Manufacturers Price
Client expense: $1,522,309 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Energy, Dept of, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS), Labor, Dept of (DOL), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), SENATE, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), White House Office
2009 · first_quarter · Budget/Appropriations
H.R. 2088, Transportation Appropriations; State/Foreign Operations & Related programs H.R. 2555, Homeland Security Appropriations H.R. 2673, S. 1427 Agriculture Appropriations H.R. 2989, Transportation Treasury Appropriations FY09 Concurrent Budget resolutions Defense Appropriations
Client expense: $1,059,886 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Agriculture, Dept of (USDA), Bureau of Engraving & Printing, Commerce, Dept of (DOC), Defense, Dept of (DOD), Energy, Dept of, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Executive Office of the President (EOP), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS), SENATE, State, Dept of (DOS), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Transportation, Dept of (DOT), Treasury, Dept of, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
Client expense: $5,400,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Defense, Dept of (DOD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Justice, Dept of (DOJ), Office of Management & Budget (OMB), SENATE, White House Office
Client expense: $6,600 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Defense, Dept of (DOD), Education, Dept of, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS), Labor, Dept of (DOL), Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, SENATE, State, Dept of (DOS), Veterans Affairs, Dept of (VA)
Client expense: $3,830,000 · Firm income: Not reported
Government targets: Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Defense, Dept of (DOD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Justice, Dept of (DOJ), Office of Management & Budget (OMB), SENATE, White House Office