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Judge Finalizes Jimmo vs. Sebelius Settlement On January 24, 2013, a federal judge approved a settlement agreement in the Jimmo vs. Sebelius case that NASL had reported on in mid-December, officially ending a decades-long CMS practice of denying skilled care to beneficiaries if a condition fails to continuously improve. The class action lawsuit challenged CMS on its so-called Medicare "Improvement" standard. Read more
House Passes Debt Limit Bill
On January 23, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would suspend the limit on the nation’s borrowing authority for nearly four months – a move that would eliminate the threat of a government default and give lawmakers more time to address other looming budget deadlines. The 285 – 144 vote in favor of H.R. 325 passed the House with 86 Democrats supporting the measure and 33 Republicans opposing it. Read more
Price’s Market Pricing Program Legislation Takes Shape Within the next few weeks, Representative Tom Price, MD (R-GA) is expected to reintroduce Market Pricing Program (MPP) legislation that would replace CMS’ current DMEPOS competitive bidding program. NASL is reviewing the legislative language, which appears similar to that of H.R. 6490, which Congressman Price sponsored last fall. Read more
House Reintroduces Bill to Repeal IPAB
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has re-introduced legislation (H.R. 351) intended to repeal the Affordable Care Act's Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The group, led by Representatives Phil Roe (R-TN) and Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), said the proposed Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act (H.R. 351) would eliminate the threat of automatic cuts to Medicare spending that could be imposed by the panel. Read more
HHS Issues Final Omnibus HIPAA Rules
As NASL reported earlier this month, HHS published a final omnibus rule to improve patient protections established under the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) in the Federal Register on January 25, 2013. The 563-page final omnibus rule modifies four HIPAA rules, including: HIPAA Privacy & Security Rules mandated in the Health Information Technology for Economic & Clinical Health (HITECH) Act enacted as part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as well as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). Read more
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