Home Health & Hospice Week

2 percent cut is nearly averted — but not quite.

Both the House of Representatives and Senate have passed legislation to extend the suspension of the 2 percent sequestration reduction to providers’ Medicare payment rates. But don’t count that chicken quite yet.

Recap: On March 17, the House passed a bill to postpone the end of the sequestration holiday from March 31 to Dec. 31. The legislation also staved off pay-as-you-go cuts. On March 25, the Senate passed a bill with the same sequestration suspension extension, but it did not include the pay-as-you-go portion, notes the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

The result: “The House needs to vote on the Senate compromise but isn’t currently in session, and won’t return until mid-April,” notes the American Physical Therapy Association. “APTA expects the Senate version to be approved in the House and signed into law by President Biden,” it says.

Meanwhile, CMS is holding off on implementing the sequestration cuts. “In anticipation of possible Congressional action to extend the 2 percent sequester reduction suspension, we instructed the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to hold all claims with dates of service on or after April 1, 2021, for a short period without affecting providers’ cash flow,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in a March 30 message to providers. “This will minimize the volume of claims the MACs must reprocess if Congress extends the suspension; the MACs will automatically reprocess any claims paid with the reduction applied if necessary.”